Deadly Shootout in Kosovo Reignites Tensions Between Belgrade, Pristina

Kosovo police officers patrol a road to Banjska Monastery, in the aftermath of a shooting incident, near Zvecan, Kosovo, on Sept. 25, 2023. Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has blamed Serbia for a deadly gunfight that erupted last month between a group of armed men and local police in northern Kosovo near the Serbian border.

“The [armed] group simply exercised the intentions and the motives of Serbia as a country and [Serbian President Aleksandar] Vucic as its leader,” Ms. Osmani said in a Sept. 28 interview with Reuters.

“Kosovo is under attack.”

Serbia’s president, however, rejects claims that his country was somehow involved in the incident, the circumstances of which remain shrouded in ambiguity.

“Why would this [incident] be beneficial for Belgrade?” Mr. Vucic told Reuters on Sept. 28.

“Serbia does not want war,” he said, adding that his government would launch its own investigation to determine who was responsible.

On Sept. 24, Kosovo police engaged in an hours-long shootout with a group of armed men in Kosovo’s northern village of Banjska. At one point, the armed men barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery.

Kosovar Albanians celebrate on the day their prime minister proclaimed Kosovo "an independent, sovereign, and democratic state," in Mitrovica, Serbia, on Feb. 17, 2008. Carsten Koall/Getty Images

By the time that the melee was over, a Kosovar police officer—along with three of the gunmen—lay dead.

According to the Kosovar authorities, most of the perpetrators managed to escape to next-door Serbia.

Local police reportedly arrested three people in connection with the incident, which Kosovo is still investigating.

Ms. Osmani accused Serbia of trying to stoke tensions in northern Kosovo, which is home to roughly 50,000 ethnic Serbs.

“What I would say to President Vucic is stop messing with Kosovo,” she said. “Kosovo will defend its freedom, independence, and sovereignty at any price.”

Ambiguous Circumstances

Until now, no group has claimed responsibility for the incident. Nor have the gunmen’s motives been made public. However, Kosovo claims to have proof suggesting that the armed men were supported by Serbia.

“We’ve been victims of aggression by Serbia, and everyone should treat it as such,” Ms. Osmani said.

Serbian officials, however, challenge this version of events.

According to Mr. Vucic, the incident was a police operation against the region’s ethnic Serbs, carried out in conjunction with NATO’s Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR).

“What suspected crimes these would be is a question for the prosecutor,” he said.

Serbian army self-propelled 155 mm howitzers near the administrative line with Kosovo, south Serbia, on Dec. 26, 2022. Serbian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

Mr. Vucic has previously accused Kosovo’s government, especially Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, of inciting violence against the region’s ethnic Serbian population.

Mr. Kurti, along with other Kosovo officials, denies the allegation.

Moscow, which maintains close relations with Belgrade, appears to support Serbia’s view.

“Yesterday’s bloodshed is a direct result of [Prime Minister] Kurti’s policy of inciting conflict and cleansing the region of [ethnic] Serbs,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sept. 25.

She accused Mr. Kurti of “escalating the situation” with a view to “heaping Western pressure on Belgrade to force it to recognize Kosovo’s independence.”

Serbia withdrew its forces from Kosovo in 1999 after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against what was then Yugoslavia, of which Serbia had been a part.

In 2008, Kosovo—with U.S. backing—declared independence from Serbia, with which it shares a 236-mile-long border. But dozens of countries, including China and five EU member states, never recognized the move.

Moscow, which shares deep cultural, ethnic, and religious ties with Belgrade, also still views Kosovo as part of Serbia. Unlike most European capitals, Belgrade has opposed sanctions on Russia over its ongoing invasion of eastern Ukraine.

Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo are likewise opposed to Kosovo’s independence and still look to Belgrade—not the Kosovar capital Pristina—as the seat of authority.

Serbs Clash with KFOR

NATO’s KFOR personnel have come to blows with the region’s ethnic Serbs before.

In May, clashes erupted between KFOR personnel and ethnic Serbian protesters following a controversial local election.

Serbia responded to the clashes, which left dozens injured on both sides, by deploying Serbian army units near the Kosovo border.

NATO escalated the situation by announcing plans to reinforce its roughly 4,000-strong KFOR mission with 700 additional troops.

At the time, Russia declared its “unconditional support” for Serbia.

“The legitimate rights and interests of Kosovo’s Serbs must be respected and ensured,” a Kremlin spokesman said.

Kosovo isn’t a NATO member. But its foreign minister said last year that she hoped to see the country join NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” program in 2023.

The move is widely regarded as a stepping stone toward full-fledged NATO membership.

On Sept. 29, NATO announced plans to send an unspecified number of additional KFOR personnel to the region in light of “recent tensions.”

“Since May, we have enhanced KFOR’s presence and posture,” the Western alliance said in a statement.

“Only yesterday, the North Atlantic Council authorized additional forces to address the current situation.”

Reuters contributed to this report.