Kosovo police patrol attacked in volatile north

PRISTINA (Reuters) – Kosovo police stated one in every of their patrols near the Serbian border got here below hearth on Saturday, in an space of the nation marred by ethnic disputes and smuggling actions.

Tensions between western Balkan neighbours Kosovo and Serbia

have flared just lately and got here to a head final week after Kosovo stated it could oblige Serbs dwelling within the north of the nation and utilizing Serbian automotive licence plates to use for plates issued by Pristina establishments. The duty has now been postponed.

Ethnic Serbs make up round 5 p.c of the Kosovan inhabitants, which is 90 p.c ethnic Albanian.

“There have been not less than 10 photographs… they hit near a police boat however nobody was injured,” police stated in a press release.Police stated their patrol got here below hearth near the city of Zubin Potok after they had been making an attempt to launch a ship on the Gazivoda lake, a part of the border. In an try and defuse tensions the leaders of each nations, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti, will meet in Brussels on Aug. 18. Round 50,000 Serbs dwell within the north of Kosovo however they don’t acknowledge its 2008 declaration of independence. They preserve shut hyperlinks with Belgrade.Kosovo is acknowledged by greater than 100 nations, primarily western, however not by Serbia, Russia, China and others.Kosovo’s fragile peace is maintained by NATO’s KFOR mission, which has 3,770 troops on the bottom. In the mean time NATO is barely monitoring the scenario but it surely has stated it’s ready to intervene in keeping with its mandate if stability was jeopardized.

(This story refiles to repair typo)

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Enhancing by Alexandra Hudson)