WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Saturday accused Serbia of inflaming tensions with the arrest of three Kosovo police officers this week and demanded their immediate release.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller implored Serbia “to immediately and unconditionally release the three Kosovo police detained on June 14.”
“Their arrest and ongoing detention on spurious charges has exacerbated an already tense situation,” he added.
Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina escalated after Serbia arrested three Kosovo police officers earlier this week.
Kosovo labelled the detentions as a kidnapping and, as a “security measure,” banned all Serbian trucks from entering its territory.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic played down the arrest and accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of “wanting to provoke a war.”
The detained police belonged to a border patrol unit and had gone missing after they reported an incursion of masked and armed men in the area.
Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina have soared since the police-backed installation in May of ethnic Albanian mayors in four northern Serb-majority Kosovo towns.
The move led to rioting that left 30 NATO-led peacekeepers injured.
France, Germany and the United States have urged both sides to de-escalate tensions, while the United States openly slammed the Kosovo government’s decision to install the mayors.
The European Union called on Vucic and Kurti to meet in Brussels next week.
Ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade, backed by Russia and China, has never recognized it.
Kosovo Serbs remain largely loyal to Belgrade and reject Pristina’s sovereignty.
US presses Serbia to free 3 detained Kosovo police
https://arab.news/wscxu
US presses Serbia to free 3 detained Kosovo police
- State Department spokesman Matthew Miller implored Serbia "to immediately and unconditionally release the three Kosovo police detained on June 14”
- Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina escalated after Serbia arrested three Kosovo police officers earlier this week
Drone-backed militants attack Nigerian army base, several soldiers dead
- The militants struck the Sabon Gari base before dawn
- The army regained control after reinforcements arrived
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Islamist militants backed by armed drones raided an army base in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, killing several troops in the early hours of Thursday, the military said, in the second assault reported there this week.
The use of drones by the fighters from Daesh West Africa Province (Daesh-WAP) in recent attacks has marked a significant escalation in the violence in the region, military spokesman Lt. Col. Sani Uba said.
The militants struck the Sabon Gari base before dawn, storming the perimeter and briefly breaching part of the facility, Uba said.
While they were fighting, their drone bombardment destroyed several military vehicles, including an excavator and a low-bed trailer, he added.
The army regained control after reinforcements arrived, repelled the attack and were pursuing the militants, Uba said.
Some soldiers and Civilian Joint Task Force members “paid the supreme price,” he said, without giving details on the numbers.
Two security sources told Reuters at least nine soldiers and two task force members were killed, with around 16 others wounded.
Nigeria’s military has pushed deeper into insurgent strongholds in the northeast this year as part of a renewed offensive against militant groups.
But despite repeated operations, Boko Haram and its splinter faction Daesh-WAP continue to mount large-scale attacks, exploiting difficult terrain, porous borders and a weak state presence across parts of the arid northeast. Borno, where Boko Haram and Daesh-WAP fighters have intensified attacks on military convoys and civilians, remains the epicenter of the 17-year Islamist insurgency.
