clashes in the north of the country leave around thirty injured among the NATO international force

Clashes in the north of Kosovo left about thirty wounded within the Force for Kosovo (Kfor), a NATO multinational force based in the country, Monday, May 29. According to the Hungarian Defense Ministry, more than 20 Hungarian soldiers are among the injured, seven of whom were seriously injured. Among the wounded soldiers, 11 are Italian and three of them “are in serious condition, but their life is not in danger”, said Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

On Monday afternoon, Italian and Hungarian members of Kfor had been deployed in four municipalities where the Kosovo Serb community is in the majority, while most of the inhabitants of Kosovo belong to the Albanian community. They intervened because of demonstrations by Serb residents demanding the departure of Albanian mayors. “While containing the most active fringes of the crowd, several soldiers from the Italian and Hungarian contingent of Kfor were subjected to unprovoked attacks and suffered traumatic injuries with fractures and burns, due to the explosion of incendiary devices”, details the Kfor.

“NATO strongly condemns the unprovoked attacks on KFOR troops in northern Kosovo, said a spokesman for the Atlantic Alliance. These attacks are completely unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately.”

The army of Serbia deployed on the border

Clashes erupted at the end of the week in several localities in northern Kosovo. On Friday, Kosovo police special forces dispersed with tear gas Serbs who wanted to prevent Albanian mayors, elected in April in a controversial election, from taking office in these municipalities.

In the wake of these incidents, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic ordered the army to be on high alert and “get in motion” in the direction of the border with Kosovo. The Serbian army will remain “until further notice” in “state of maximum alert” near the borderhis cabinet announced on Saturday.