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| Kosovo special forces patrolling outside a building in the north, video grab |
Kosovo police conducted raids on Friday in five different locations across three majority Serb municipalities in the north of the country as part of an investigation into the events that occurred on Sunday in the village of Banjska, where a police officer was killed and three armed attackers were involved.
Deputy Commander of the Kosovo Police in North Mitrovica, Veton Elshani, told Voice of America that the searches began after 6 a.m., but there have been no arrests so far.
The police stated that the searches were carried out with a court order and in coordination with the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and the peacekeeping forces of KFOR.
The raids were primarily conducted on the properties of the Deputy Head of the Serbian List, Milan Radoicic, whom authorities in Kosovo identified as part of the armed group that attacked law enforcement officers, killing one officer and injuring another. The group that attacked the police later forcibly entered the Orthodox monastery in the village of Banjska, continuing to fire upon the police. The confrontation ended when most of the attackers fled. Three of the armed attackers were killed.
The events of Sunday have been classified as a terrorist attack by Kosovo's institutions and Western diplomats.
On Tuesday, Kosovo's Interior Minister, Xhelal Svecla, published drone footage showing a group of heavily armed individuals standing in a part of the Orthodox monastery in the village of Banjska in the north of Kosovo. The footage highlights that one of them is Milan Radoicic, who is sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who denied any ties to the armed group, stated that Serbian authorities responsible for the northern region will question the Deputy Head of the Serbian List and investigate the events of Sunday, accusing official Pristina of inciting violence in the north.
The Office for Kosovo in the Serbian government, in a statement following the raids on Friday, said that Kosovo police forces "violently attacked the North Mitrovica Hospital Center and several other private facilities in the north."
"It is clear that (Albin) Kurti and his police are exploiting the events of Sunday in Banjska as a pretext to continue terror in northern Kosovo, and this action is carried out with the clear aim of preventing peace in the north," the statement said.