Stoltenberg says that it is important to increase the number of KFOR members

 Stoltenberg in a speech (archive)

 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it is important that the number of KFOR mission members increases because of the rising tensions in Kosovo. 

NATO decided to deploy additional troops to Kosovo after the attack by the Serbian paramilitary group in Banjska, Zvecan, on September 24, which left Kosovo police sergeant dead. "We have seen a rise in tensions, so it is important that NATO increases its presence in Kosovo," Stoltenberg said Wednesday ahead of a two-day summit with the defense ministers of the member states in Brussels. On October 6, Germany annou
nced that in April next year, it would send about 150 soldiers to Kosovo. 

NATO's decision to increase peacekeeping troops in Kosovo came after Kosovo Police came under attack by an armed group of Serbs in the village of Banjska, where Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku was killed. In the exchange of fire between the attackers who barricaded themselves in the village monastery with the Kasvs police, three Serb attackers were killed. Serbia massed army troops along the border with Kosovo, prompting a reaction from the United States, the European Union, and NATO. Kosovo authorities called the attack "an attempt by Serbia to annex northern Kosovo," but Serbia rejected the accusations. The meeting of the Defence Ministers of NATO countries that started today in Brussels will also discuss the situation in Kosovo.