Anadolu details aftermath in Kosovo’s Banjska village where armed Serbs clashed with security forces

BELGRADE, Serbia 

Anadolu Agency recorded the aftermath in Banjska village in Kosovo following a fight between police and gunmen left an officer dead and another wounded.

Police completed a search and mine clearance before allowing access to the village which was closed to outsiders since the fighting began Sunday.

Anadolu observed traces of the conflict with empty weapons’ cartridges and trucks without license plates around the Banjska Monastery in the center of the village.

An armed Serbian group left various materials in houses where they were stationed around the monastery and on the mountain roads they used to leave the region.

Veton Elshani, deputy director of the northern region of the Kosovo police force, told Anadolu that the area has been largely scanned and cleaned of mines.

“In the coming days, expert units (of the police) will continue to check this mountainous area around Monastir and look for explosives that may be there,” said Elshani.

Special units will continue to guard the village and surrounding areas for some time.

The fight broke out in the northern Kosovo village near the Serbian border when a group of armed Serbs blocked a bridge. A shootout erupted when the group opened fire on police.

Several security forces were dispatched to the region, and the Brnjak border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia was closed.

The area has been the scene of unrest since April, when local ethnic Serbs boycotted elections in northern Kosovo, followed by protests against the election of ethnic Albanian mayors.

Albanians are by far the largest ethnic group in Kosovo, followed by Serbs, with about half living in the north.

Amid the unrest concerning the elections, NATO peacekeepers were deployed, including a group of extra Turkish reinforcements.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and gained recognition from many countries, including Türkiye. But Serbia has never recognized Kosovo and claims it is still part of Serbia.

• Kosovo