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A border police officer in the city of Mitrovica, divided by Serbs and Albanians, shot at a Serb (symbol image).
In an incident at a checkpoint in Kosovo, a Serb was shot and wounded by police officers from the Kosovan special unit Rosu. Serbs in a car did not stop near the city of Mitrovica despite being asked to do so and rammed a police vehicle, the Kosovar police said in the capital Pristina.
According to the Kosovo authorities, the police officer shot the vehicle “to avert the danger”. The driver also rammed a car belonging to the security forces. The car continued its journey without stopping or being stopped. According to the information, the police officers controlled traffic not far from the border with Serbia in order to prevent smuggling and criminal activities. The government in Belgrade announced that the driver suffered a gunshot wound. Police in Kosovo made no mention of any injury, only stating the vehicle had moved away.
The Kosovo Chancellery of the government in Belgrade announced that one of the occupants of the vehicle was seriously injured by gunfire. He was taken to the hospital in the Serbian city of Kraljevo. A second passenger was not injured. Accordingly, there were no other people in the vehicle, which had numerous bullet holes.
Again and again tensions in the north
Just a few weeks ago, the conflict between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians threatened to escalate. On the Orthodox Christmas day on January 6, a career soldier shot a boy (11) and a man (21).
Tensions between Serbs and Albanians, especially in the north around the divided city of Mitrovica, repeatedly arise, fueled by Belgrade. At the end of 2022, militant Serbs erected barricades in a dozen places in northern Kosovo, blocking access routes to border crossings to Serbia, among other things. (SDA)