A Kosovo police officer guards the street close to the village of Banjska, 55 kilometers (35 miles) north of the capital Pristina, northern Kosovo, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Sunday stated one police officer was killed and one other wounded in an assault he blamed on help from neighboring Serbia, growing tensions between the 2 former struggle foes.

Dejan Simicevic/AP

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Dejan Simicevic/AP

A Kosovo police officer guards the street close to the village of Banjska, 55 kilometers (35 miles) north of the capital Pristina, northern Kosovo, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Sunday stated one police officer was killed and one other wounded in an assault he blamed on help from neighboring Serbia, growing tensions between the 2 former struggle foes.

Dejan Simicevic/AP

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s prime minister on Sunday stated one police officer was killed and one other wounded in an assault he blamed on help from neighboring Serbia, growing tensions between the 2 former struggle foes at a fragile second of their European Union-facilitated dialogue to normalize ties.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated “masked professionals armed with heavy weapons” opened hearth on a police patrol within the village of Banjska, Leposavic, 55 kilometers (35 miles) north of the capital Pristina at 3 a.m. (01:00 GMT), killing one officer. Another officer was injured however his situation is just not life-threatening.

Kosovo police stated two vehicles with no license plates had blocked a bridge on the entrance of the village. Three police items have been despatched to unblock it however got here below hearth from totally different positions with totally different weapons, hand grenades and bombs.

Police managed to push again the assault and take two injured cops on the hospital in southern Mitrovica.

One of them was lifeless on arrival, medical doctors stated.

The space round Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo, is the place many of the nation’s ethnic Serb minority lives, in 4 municipalities.

Reports within the media in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo stated residents of the village of Banjska have been waken up by shootings and detonations in the midst of the evening till daybreak.

“It was a real little war: first some gunfire, then silence, shootings, detonations,” Serbian Kossev information company quoted an unidentified resident as saying.

Serbian media stated each native roads and crossings with Serbia have been blocked.

“Organized crime, which is politically, financially and logistically supported from Belgrade, is attacking our state,” Kurti wrote on his Facebook web page.

Kurti stated that gunfire in opposition to police with totally different weapons was ongoing.

“The government of the Republic of Kosovo and its state institutions are ready and coordinated to respond to crime and criminals, terror and terrorists,” he stated.

Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani, who’s in New York on the United Nations General Assembly, denounced the killing and the “attacks against the Republic of Kosovo’s sovereignty.”

“Such attacks testify once again the destabilizing power of the criminal bands organized from Serbia which for a long time .. are destabilizing Kosovo and the region,” she stated.

The United States’ ambassador in Pristina “strongly condemns the orchestrated, violent attacks on the Kosovo Police this morning” in an announcement, including that “the Kosovo Police has full and legitimate responsibility for enforcing the rule of law according to the constitution and laws of Kosovo.”

“The perpetrators must and will be held accountable and brought to justice. They should immediately cease their attacks,” he stated.

Serbia’s parliamentary speaker Vladimir Orlic stated Kurti “was quick to blame the Serbs,” including that Kurti was the one who wished an “escalation” within the area.

“He (Kurti) said it was some kind of organized action by professionals,” Orlic instructed native Prva tv station. “They must have been identified and he knows who they are and what they are, and everything is clear.”

Earlier this month, an EU-facilitated dialogue assembly in Brussels between Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic resulted in acrimony.

Washington has absolutely supported the negotiations and the stance of the EU.

In February, the EU put ahead a 10-point plan to finish months of political crises. Kurti and Vucic gave their approval on the time, however with some reservations which have nonetheless not been resolved.

The EU warned each nations that the commitments that Serbia and Kosovo made in February “are binding on them and play a role in the European path of the parties,” which refers to their possibilities of becoming a member of the 27-nation bloc.

In May tensions in northern Kosovo left 93 peacekeepers damage in riots.

Serbia and its former province, Kosovo, have been at odds for many years. Their 1998-99 struggle left greater than 10,000 individuals lifeless, principally Kosovo Albanians. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008 however Belgrade has refused to acknowledge the transfer.