PRISTINA: Kosovo on Thursday called for international sanctions against Serbia, claiming that Belgrade had supplied the weapons used by gunmen suspected of having killed a Kosovo police officer at the weekend.

The killing and an ensuing gun battle at a monastery in a village close to the Serbian border marked one of the gravest escalations in the former breakaway province in years.

“For this, Serbia should be sanctioned,” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti told lawmakers on Thursday. If not, he added, “it will do it again”.

Kurti also said that the “military arsenal of the Serbian professionals who attacked Banjska was made up of weapons from Serbia”. Kurti was referring to the weapons the Kosovo authorities claim to have seized in the northern village of Banjska during an operation carried out against the gunmen.

According to a list published by Kurti, the haul included an armoured vehicle, grenades, AK47 rifles and rocket launchers, in all worth several million euros.

Belgrade has repeatedly rejected Pristina’s accusations.

The Kosovo police officer was killed on Sunday when gunmen ambushed a patrol a few kilometres (miles) from the Serbian border.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2023