Armed men launched a violent attack on a village in the north of Kosovo on Sunday, resulting in the deaths of one police officer and three of the attackers. The assailants, equipped with armored vehicles, engaged in shootouts with police before barricading themselves inside a Serbian Orthodox monastery in the village of Banjska. The siege lasted for several hours, leaving monks and pilgrims trapped in the monastery’s temple.
Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, has a predominantly ethnic Albanian population, but the north of the country is predominantly Serbian, with around 50,000 Serbs residing there. Tensions have long existed between the two ethnic groups, with the Serbs refusing to accept Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008. They continue to recognize Belgrade as their capital and have sought greater autonomy in the region.
The identity of the attackers remains unclear, but Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla have blamed “Serbia-sponsored criminals” for the violence. They described the attackers as highly skilled individuals with military and police backgrounds, calling for their immediate surrender. Serbian officials have not yet commented on the incident, but President Aleksandar Vucic is expected to make a statement later in the evening.
The Serbian Orthodox Church’s diocese of Raska-Prizren, which includes Banjska, condemned the violence and called for an end to the conflict. The church reported that armed masked men stormed the monastery compound, forcing the monks and visitors to seek refuge inside the temple. The police have reported that the attackers initially positioned heavy vehicles on a bridge into the village and fired at the approaching officers before fleeing to the nearby monastery.
The international community has condemned the violence, with UN mission head Caroline Ziadeh and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressing concern for the lives at risk. Borrell called for an immediate end to the attacks, and EU and NATO missions have been liaising with authorities in Kosovo. NATO troops, along with members of the EU police force EULEX and local police, have been patrolling the area near Banjska. Journalists have been restricted from entering the village, and Kosovo border police have closed two crossings with Serbia.
The incident comes amidst stalled EU-sponsored talks aimed at normalizing relations between Serbia and Kosovo. The talks broke down last week, with Kurti being blamed for failing to establish an association of autonomous municipalities in the Serb-majority areas as agreed upon in a 2013 deal. The plan has been seen by some as a means of effectively dividing Kosovo along ethnic lines, a notion rejected by Pristina. Serbia still officially considers Kosovo part of its territory, and tension has been further fueled by accusations of rights violations against minority Serbs by the Kosovo government.
The unrest in the north of Kosovo has intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in the region following April’s elections, which the Serbs boycotted. NATO currently maintains 3,700 peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, a significant reduction from the initial deployment of 50,000 in 1999. The north of Kosovo, where Serbs have a majority, remains closely tied to Serbia, with Belgrade funding local administration, public servants, and infrastructure projects.
As the situation continues to develop, concerns grow over the potential for further violence and instability in the region.