More than 30 NATO international force soldiers injured in clashes in northern Kosovo

More than 30 members of the international force for Kosovo (KFOR), led by the NATOwere injured this Monday in clashes in the north of Kosovowhere Serb protesters demand the removal of Albanian mayors, KFOR announced in a statement.

Several soldiers from the Italian and Hungarian contingents of the KFOR “were subjected to unprovoked attacks and suffered injuries with fractures and burns from the explosion of incendiary devices” while “contained the most active sections of the crowd”, the multinational force said in a statement.

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According to him Hungarian Ministry of Defense, more than 20 Hungarian soldiers are among the wounded. The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajanireported for his part that there were 11 wounded Italian soldiers.

The NATO condemned”strongly” the “unacceptable” attacks against KFOR troops, as well as the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloniwho asked in a statement that “all parties take a step back to de-escalate tensions”.

Kosovar police used tear gas to disperse Serb protesters demanding withdrawal from northern Kosovowhere they are the majority, of the Albanian mayors who have just taken office.

More than 50 Serbs were injured in the clashes, Serbian state television RTS announced.

The Albanian mayors, who are not considered legitimate representatives by protesters, were appointed after local elections organized by the Kosovar authorities on April 23 in municipalities populated mostly by Serbs.

The latter broadly boycotted the ballot: only about 1,500 voters participated out of the nearly 45,000 registered.

In the morning, the Serbs, who are also demanding the departure of the security forces specially deployed in the region for several days, gathered in front of a town hall and tried to enter.

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The police blocked their way using tear gas, according to an AFP journalist.

The armed body assured that demonstrations had taken place in front of three town halls in the north of Kosovo, a former province of Serbia that proclaimed its independence in 2008.

Some 120,000 Serbs — many of them loyal to belgrade — live in Kosovo, which has a population of 1.8 million, the majority of whom are Albanians.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.