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Kosovo mourns police officer killed by Serb gunmen in monastery raid

Kosovar police units have moved in to secure and search a village in north Kosovo, a day after three assailants were killed in a shootout in the restive region.

AP

The European Union and NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo are in close contact with Kosovar authorities. Photo: AP

Kosovo observed a day of mourning for a police officer killed by Serb gunmen who then barricaded themselves in an Orthodox monastery in an attack that left three assailants dead.

Flags were at half mast on all public buildings in the capital Pristina to mourn Afrim Bunjaku on Monday.

In the north, where most of Kosovo’s ethnic Serb live in four municipalities around Mitrovica, police were patrolling in search of the armed assailants after they left the monastery.

About 30 gunmen dressed in combat uniforms were involved in the attack, but it is not clear who they are or who is supporting them.

Pristina accuses Belgrade of backing the “terrorists,” an accusation Serbia denies, saying they are Serbs from Kosovo protesting the government there.

On Sunday the masked gunmen opened fire on a police patrol at about 0100 GMT in Banjska, a village located 55 kilometres north of Pristina, killing Bunjaku and injuring another officer.

Standoff in northern Kosovo ends after day of deadly clashes

Belgrade denies involvement

They then used an armoured vehicle to break down the gates to the monastery in the village, where they remained in a stand-off with Kosovo police until evening.

The two sides exchanged gunfire sporadically until darkness fell, when the assailants escaped from the monastery on foot.

Three of the attackers were killed and two injured. Another Kosovar police officer was injured in the confrontation near the monastery.

Two of the gunmen and four Serbs discovered nearby with communication equipment were arrested and are being investigated for terrorist acts.

Police seized vehicles used by the gunmen which contained an arsenal of firearms of different calibres, explosives, ammunition and logistics capable of equipping hundreds of persons, according to Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla.

“It’s a terrorist, criminal, professional unit that had planned and prepared what they did and who are not a smuggling band but a mercenary structure which is politically, financially and logistically supported by official Belgrade,” said Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the gunmen were local Kosovo Serbs “who no longer want to stand Kurti’s terror.”

Vucic condemned the killing of the Kosovo policeman, but still said the clash was the result of “brutal” pressure on Kosovo Serbs by the Kosovo government. He denied that Belgrade had anything to do with the attack.