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A bomb alarm went off at the international airport “Adem Jashari” in the Kosovo capital Pristina on Wednesday. Local media report that an explosive device was threatened, after which the airport was temporarily evacuated.

Airport spokeswoman Valentina Gara confirmed this message on social media: “We confirm that we have received a bomb attack. Passengers and staff have been evacuated and brought to safety. The teams involved in the emergency plan are doing their job.”

The exact background was initially unclear. Those involved speculated on the spot whether there could be a connection with the current conflict between Kosovo and Serbia. This led to ethnic and political tensions in the border area.

Traffic infrastructure blocked

Just under three weeks ago, militant Serbs set up barricades in the predominantly Serb-inhabited northern part of Kosovo, blocking in particular the roads leading to the border crossings into Serbia.

In doing so, they are protesting the arrest of a former Kosovo police officer of Serbian origin who, according to Kosovo authorities, had led attacks on officials of the election commission. The militants are supported and sometimes even instructed by the government in Belgrade.

Now inhabited almost exclusively by Albanians, Kosovo used to belong to Serbia and has been independent since 2008. In 1999, NATO bombed Serbia after Serbian security forces killed and expelled Albanian civilians. Until 2008, the UN mission Unmik administered Kosovo. Serbia does not accept independence and claims the country’s territory for itself.

(pit/sda/dpa)