{"id":425559,"date":"2024-12-01T05:28:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T05:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=425559"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Kosovo-raises-security-after-blast-Serbia-denies-involvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Kosovo-raises-security-after-blast-Serbia-denies-involvement\/","title":{"rendered":"Kosovo raises security after blast, Serbia denies involvement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kosovo stepped up security measures around “critical” infrastructure Saturday after an explosion at a key canal feeding two of its main power plants, as neighbouring Serbia rejected accusations it had staged the blast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The explosion occurred Friday near the town of Zubin Potok in a Serb-dominated area in Kosovo’s troubled north, damaging the canal supplying water to cooling systems at two coal-fired power plants that generate most of Kosovo’s electricity.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Albin Kurti called a security meeting late Friday, saying: “This is a criminal and terrorist attack aimed at damaging our critical infrastructure”.<\/p>\n

“The attack was carried out by professionals. We believe it comes from gangs directed by Serbia,” he added without providing any evidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government later issued a statement echoing his allegations, saying that “initial indications suggest” the explosion had been “orchestrated by the Serbian state, which has the capacity to carry out such a criminal and terrorist attack”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kosovo also “approved additional measures to strengthen security around essential infrastructure and services, such as bridges, transformers” and other sites, it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Serbia slapped back Saturday condemning the attack, while calling the accusation “premature” and “baseless”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Such destructive actions are unacceptable and threaten the fragile stability we are striving to maintain,” Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Serbia unequivocally demands responsibility for the perpetrators of this reckless attack,” he added, while suggesting the Kosovar “regime” could be behind the blast and calling for an internationally-led investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The main political party representing Serbs in Kosovo, Serb List, also condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pictures from the scene published by local media showed water leaking heavily from one side of the reinforced canal, which runs from the Serb-majority north of Kosovo to the capital Pristina and also supplies drinking water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, electricity suppplies to consumers were \u00a0running smoothly on Saturday morning, with authorities having found an alternative method to cooling the plants, Kosovo’s Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Repair work was ongoing, authorities said.<\/p>\n

-‘Criminal attack’ –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The United States strongly condemned the “attack on critical infrastructure in Kosovo”, the US embassy in Pristina said in a statement on Facebook.<\/p>\n

“We are monitoring the situation closely… and have offered our full support to the government of Kosovo to ensure that those responsible for this criminal attack are identified and held accountable.”<\/p>\n

The European Union’s ambassador to Kosovo, Aivo Orav, also condemned the attack while calling for an investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I have already offered EU’s help to Kosovo’s authorities. The incident needs to be investigated and those responsible brought to justice,” he said on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Animosity between ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the end of the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move that Serbia has refused to acknowledge.<\/p>\n

Kurti’s government has for months sought to dismantle a parallel system of social services and political offices backed by Belgrade to serve Kosovo’s Serbs.<\/p>\n

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Saturday denounced “the act of sabotage on the critical water supply infrastructure in the Iber-Lepenc Canal” as “a serious crime that endangers the lives of Kosova’s citizens and undermines the process of normalizing relations in our region.”<\/p>\n

“This criminal act must be investigated and punished as soon as possible, with the support of international partners,” he said on X.<\/p>\n

Friday’s attack came after a series of violent incidents in northern Kosovo, including the hurling of hand grenades at a municipal building and a police station earlier this week.<\/p>\n

ih\/ach\/giv<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Albin Kurti called it a ‘terrorist’ attack<\/p>\n

-Armend NIMANI
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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