Feared new escalation in Kosovo: While Orthodox Serbs celebrate Christmas, a Kosovo soldier shot dead a Serb boy (11) and a young man (21) outside his duty hours. The 33-year-old gunman suddenly fired shots at the two victims from the passing car. These transported oak branches to be burned on Orthodox Christmas Eve.
21-year-old Milos S.* was hit in the hand and his cousin Stefan S.* in the shoulder. You are out of danger. There seems to be no doubt about the question of guilt. “I strongly condemn the attack on two Kosovan civilians today,” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, 47, wrote on Twitter. “A suspect has been apprehended and will be dealt with swiftly and fairly by our judiciary.”
Angry Serbs block the road
After the incident, some angry Serbs blocked the local main road. The announcement of the suspect’s arrest initially seemed to soften the situation somewhat. It was not until the end of December that a crisis between the ethnic groups in northern Kosovo was resolved.
About 100,000 Serbs live in mainly Albanian Kosovo, half of them in the north. Serbs refuse to recognize the government in Pristina and Kosovo as a state. Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008, is considered an autonomous Serbian province. (kes)
* Names known to editors