Kosovars Launch Cyber War on Serbian Websites

Kosovo hackers nettled Serb feelings on Sunday by plastering pro-Albanian slogans on two websites, one belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church.

“Mitrovica will always be part of Kosovo,” read one of the slogans, referring to the divided town in northern Kosovo, split into Serb-run and Albanian halves.

The hackers, who call themselves “Republic of Kosova Hackers”, also left slogans declaring that Serbs would be slaves to the Albanians of Kosovo. “We will never forget”, one hacker declared.

The hackers also denounced a recent EU-mediated agreement with Serbia over customs, designed to enable Kosovo exports to enter Serbia. Serbia banned them in 2008 after Kosovo declared independence. Nationalist Kosaars have criticised the agreement for allegedly giving too much away to Serbia.

The cyber-attacks follow a period of heightened tension between Serbs and Albanians over the situation in Serb-run Northern Kosovo.

On July 25, Kosovo government special police seized control of two border crossings in Northern Kosovo. The crossings had earlier been under the control of NATO's KFOR peacekeeping force. The seizure of the crossings led to angry confrontations with Serb locals in the north.

Since then, Serbs have blocked roads and built barricades in Northern Kosovo leading to and from the checkpoints, saying they will not dismantle them until Kosovo police and customs officers have withdrawn from the two checkpoints.