Eurasia Press & News
A peacekeeper was injured in northern Kosovo, after a NATO military compound at the Kosovo-Serbia northern border was attacked at dawn on Tuesday.A NATO peacekeeper was injured in northern Kosovo on the border with Serbia after their military compound was attacked with an explosive device, the Kosovo force, KFOR, said.
KFOR command in Pristina said the facility at the Brnjak border crossing point was attacked at 4am on Tuesday with two hand grenades. One exploded and the other one did not.
“One KFOR soldier has received slight hearing loss; no significant material damage has been reported,” the press release said.It was the second attack in a week in Serb-run northern Kosovo on KFOR soldiers, who are trying to improve freedom of movement in the volatile part of the country.
Over the weekend, peacekeepers closed a road bypassing the Brnjak border with Serbia, which caused discontent among locals.
Roads in the region have been blocked for months by Serbs protesting over the presence of Kosovo government police and customs on the border with Serbia.
Serbs have erected dozens of barricades since July 25, blocking roads in reaction to a government police operation aimed at seizing control of border crossings in the north.
KFOR headquarters condemned the attack, saying “the totally unacceptable use of violence…will be strongly opposed by KFOR.”
Last November, over 40 NATO peacekeepers were injured in clashes with Serbs when soldiers tried to remove a roadblock on the road from the town of Mitrovica to the border at Jarinje.
Northern Kosovo, which borders Serbia, has long been prone to bursts of violence. Its population, which is almost entirely comprised of Serbs, does not recognise Kosovo’s independence or the ethnic Albanian-led government in Pristina.
The region remains under the de-facto control of so-called parallel institutions funded by Belgrade. These institutions include town councils, health authorities, post offices and schools.
