21 NATO Soldiers Injured in Clashes With Kosovo Serbs

Tensions boiled over in northern Kosovo as 21 NATO soliders were reportedly injured in clashes with ethnic Serbs who have set up barricades to block the entry of Kosovar police and customs officials, according to Balkan Insight.

KFOR Spokesman Frank Martin told Balkan Insight that violence erupted shortly after midnight on November 24 when angry Serbs massed to stop peacekeepers from removing a roadblock on the road from Mitrovica to the Serbian border at Jarinje.

A running standoff has been ongoing since July between NATO forces serving as a part of the KFOR peacekeeping mission and ethnic Serbs after the authorities of the partially recognized Kosovo government attempted to move in to take control of its border with Serbia.

KFOR soldiers from Portugal and Hungary reporteldy began the operation shortly after 11 p.m., seizing a barricade, but at midnight more Serb protesters gathered, supported by trucks. 

“The demonstrators used force, including the throwing of stones, and pushed back KFOR troops by attacking them with trucks loaded with gravel," Martin told Balkan Insight. "KFOR troops were forced to fire warning shots into the air in addition to which KFOR also used teargas and batons for self-protection against the protesters." 

The KFOR soldiers eventually withdrew to "not to risk serious casualties on both sides," Martin said.

The population of northern Kosovo, which is predominately Serb, has been accustomed to moving freely to and from Serbia since the 1999 Kosovo war, which ended after NATO intervened to halt a Serbian assault on the separatist province. Eighty-five countries have recognized Kosovo as independent from Serbia since 2008, however the Serbian residents of northern Kosovo have continued to resist integrating with the new political entity.

One Serbian civilian and one Kosovar policemen have been killed in the clashes since this summer.