Kosovo tightens security after blast, Serbia denies involvement

Issued: 11/30/2024 – 12:30 p.mChanged: 11/30/2024 – 12:28 p.m

2 min

The explosion occurred on Friday near the town of Zubin Potok in the predominantly Serb area of ​​Kosovo’s restive north, damaging a canal supplying water to cooling systems at two coal-fired power plants that generate most of Kosovo’s electricity.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti called a security meeting on Friday evening, saying: “This is a criminal and terrorist attack aimed at damaging our critical infrastructure.”

“The attack was carried out by professionals. We believe it comes from gangs controlled by Serbia,” he added, without providing any evidence.

The government later released a statement repeating its accusations, saying “initial indications are that” the bombing was “organized by the Serbian state, which has the capacity to carry out such a criminal and terrorist act.”

It said Kosovo also “approved additional measures to strengthen security around major infrastructure facilities and services such as bridges, transformers” and other facilities.

Serbia hit back on Saturday, condemning the attack, calling the accusations “premature” and “baseless”.

“Such destructive actions are unacceptable and threaten the fragile stability we seek to preserve,” Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said on X.

“Serbia unequivocally demands responsibility for the perpetrators of this reckless attack,” he added, suggesting that the Kosovo “regime” may be behind the explosion and calling for an international investigation.

The main political party representing Serbs in Kosovo, Serbian List, also condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”.

Photos from the scene released by local media showed heavy water leaking from one side of the fortified canal, which runs from Serb-majority northern Kosovo to the capital Pristina and also supplies drinking water.

However, the supply of electricity to consumers continued without problems on Saturday morning, and the authorities found an alternative method of cooling the stations, Kosovo Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli said.

Repair work is ongoing, the authorities said.

-“Criminal assault” –

The United States strongly condemned the “attack on critical infrastructure in Kosovo,” the US Embassy in Pristina said in a Facebook statement.

“We are closely monitoring the situation … and have offered our full support to the government of Kosovo to ensure that those responsible for this criminal attack are identified and brought to justice.”

The European Union’s ambassador to Kosovo, Ivo Orav, also condemned the attack and called for an investigation.

“I have already offered EU assistance to the Kosovo authorities. The incident must be investigated and those responsible brought to justice,” he said on the X broadcast.

Hostilities between ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo and Serbia have persisted since the end of a war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian rebels in the late 1990s.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, and Serbia has refused to recognize the move.

The Kurti government has been trying for months to dismantle the parallel system of social services and political institutions supported by Belgrade to serve the Kosovo Serbs.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Saturday condemned the “act of sabotage on critical water supply infrastructure in the Iber-Lepentz Canal” as “a serious crime that endangers the lives of Kosovo citizens and undermines the process of normalization of relations in our region.”

“This criminal act must be investigated and punished as soon as possible with the support of international partners,” he said on X.

Friday’s attack followed a series of violent incidents in northern Kosovo, including the throwing of hand grenades at a municipal building and a police station earlier this week.

© 2024 AFP