Fighting ongoing in north Kosovo: PM Kurti

Pristina, The Gulf Observer: Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said at least 30 gunmen were surrounded by authorities in north Kosovo and called for their surrender hours after a patrol was ambushed in the area that killed one police officer.

“There are at least 30 professional, military or police armed people who are surrounded by our police forces and whom I invite to surrender to our security agencies,” said Kurti during a press conference on Sunday.

Earlier, Kurti said skirmishes between gunmen and authorities in northern Kosovo were ongoing.

“The gunfire against the police is ongoing. This is the reason why we have been calling for Serbia to stop sponsoring terrorist attacks in the north,” Kurti wrote on social media.

This comes hours after Kosovo police said in a statement that one policeman had been killed and another wounded in the area during an armed attack on a patrol as it approached a blocked road near the border with Serbia.

The incident took place at 0100 GMT when two heavy vehicles without license plates were positioned on a bridge in the village of Banjska.

The vehicles were blocking the entrance and firing at the police units that arrived “with an arsenal of firearms, including hand grenades and arm launchers”.