Kosovo on edge after deadly clashes stir unease

PRISTINA: Nearly a week after deadly clashes in Kosovo triggered one of the gravest escalations in the former breakaway province in years, the opportunity for reconciliation between ethnic Albanians and Serbs seemed as distant as ever.

The killing of a Kosovo police officer and an ensuing gun battle at a monastery brought years of distrust and bitterness to the surface — as a war of words between Serbia and Pristina’s governments, competing days of mourning, and calls for sanctions marred already fractious relations.

On Sunday, three Serb gunmen were killed in an hours-long shootout with Kosovo police, after they ambushed a patrol and later barricaded themselves at an Orthodox monastery near the northern border with Serbia.

In the wake of the clashes, Kosovo police have rounded up suspects, remanded three alleged gunmen in custody, and seized an arsenal of weapons that authorities said could have armed hundreds.

On Friday morning, Kosovo police fanned out again across the north as they conducted an operation that saw the special units raid properties linked to the suspected mastermind of the attack on the police.

The move triggered immediate condemnation from Belgrade, with Serbia’s Office for Kosovo calling the operation a “brutal and excessive demonstration of force” with special police units “armed to the teeth”.

Later on Friday the United States called on Belgrade to pull its forces back from the border with Kosovo after detecting what it called an unprecedented Serbian military build-up.

Serbia had deployed sophisticated tanks and artillery on the frontier, the White House warned.

NATO meanwhile said it was ready to increase its peacekeeping force in Kosovo.