NATO sends additional troops to Kosovo

(Patria) - NATO announced today that it has approved additional forces to resolve the current situation in Kosovo, but did not immediately specify the number or say which countries they would come from.

The conflict between police and armed Serbs hiding in a monastery turned a peaceful village in northern Kosovo into a war zone last weekend.

Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani accused Serbia and its President Aleksandar Vučić of being responsible for the attack by an armed group on the Kosovo police in the north of the country last weekend, stating in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that Kosovo was "attacked".

About thirty heavily armed Serbs attacked the Kosovo police in the village of Banjska on Sunday, after which they barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox Church monastery.

Three Serbian attackers and one Kosovo police officer were killed in the fighting. So far, three people have been charged with participating in the attack.

On Sunday, the police displayed weapons and ammunition seized from the attackers, including former Yugoslav army assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, mortars, anti-tank rocket launchers, hand grenades, landmines, and drones.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that the police found weapons worth five million euros, "enough for hundreds of fighters".

Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla uprising and NATO intervention in 1999, accuses Serbia of arming and supporting Serbian fighters.

Serbia, which has not recognized the independence of its former province, blames Kosovo for inciting violence by mistreating ethnic Serbs, reports Hina.