Police Convoy Sprayed With Bullets in North Kosovo

An EU and Kosovo police convoy was attacked on Friday morning in the northern Serb-run part of Kosovo, when a group of masked persons opened fire on them.

The assault, according to the police in northern Kosovo, took place at around 9am on the road between Zupce and Zubin Potok during a routine joint patrol of the two forces.

“One Kosovo Police (KP) officer was slightly injured and a KP and a EULEX vehicle were damaged [after] a number of masked persons appeared on a road between Zupce and Zubin Potok this morning [and] opened fire on the vehicles,” a EULEX press release said.

Kosovo Police said that the injured officer, of Serbian ethnicity, is out of danger and was injured by broken glass, not by bullets.

The northern part of Kosovo, which borders Serbia, has long been prone to violence. The local population, almost entirely comprised of Serbs, does not recognise Kosovo's independence, or the ethnic Albanian-led government in Pristina.

Over the past 48 hours, three explosions were recorded in the zone, targeting the property of a Kosovo Serb Police officer, the director of the hospital in northern Mitrovica and a senior official of the Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, in Leposavic.

The EU Special Representative to Kosovo, Samuel Zbogar and the Head of EULEX, Xavier Bout de Marnhac, condemned the latest incident in northern Kosovo.

"I thoroughly condemn this act of wanton violence. Lives were put at risk. It illustrates and reinforces the need for greater rule of law in this area of Kosovo," Zbogar said.

The head of EULEX said the perpetrators had to be brought to justice, and appealed to all those who had information relating to this incident to contact the police.

Northern Kosovo is widely seen as being under de facto control of so-called parallel institutions, which are funded by Serbia. These include decision-making bodies such as town councils and mayors.