Gunmen in armoured vehicles today stormed a mainly Serb-populated village in northern Kosovo, clashed with police, and barricaded themselves in a monastery, with violence flaring up in the restive north.

Kosovo police said one policeman and three of the nearly 30 attackers were killed during gunfire around the village of Banjska.

Monks and pilgrims were locked inside the Serbian Orthodox monastery as the siege raged for hours.

#Serbia #Kosovo
Videos from the north of Kosovo and Metohija (Banjska) have appeared on the Internet, on which you can hear the action of small arms.
Kosovo PM #Kurti says the 30 Serbs who did it are surrounded and call on them to surrender. pic.twitter.com/O102cfbbCe

— Mahmood Khan (@Mahmood88239370) September 24, 2023

Albanians make up the vast majority of Kosovo’s 1.8 million inhabitants, formerly a province of Serbia. However, some 50,000 Serbs make up the majority in the north, where clashes in May left dozens of protesters and members of the NATO peacekeeping force injured.

Serbs never accepted Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008 and still see Belgrade as their capital, more than two decades after Kosovo Albanians revolted against Serbian rule.

It is unclear who is behind the violence that erupted today, but Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Interior Minister Jelal Svekla have blamed “Serbian-sponsored criminals.” “They are professionals, with military and police backgrounds,” Kurti said, urging them to surrender.

The diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Raska-Prizren, which includes Banisko, said men in an armoured vehicle stormed the monastery, forcing monks and visiting worshippers to lock themselves inside the church.

“Armed masked men are circulating in the compound and occasional gunshots are heard,” it said in a statement.

“The diocese strongly condemns the blind violence being committed in the religious space of the Serbian Orthodox Church and urges all sides to end the conflict as soon as possible.”