« Hundreds of mourners held a vigil in Mitrovica and Zbecan on Tuesday to pay tribute to four Serbian gunmen who were killed by Kosovo police during a gunfight at a monastery in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Footage shows large crowds of ethnic Serbs lighting candles and paying tribute to photographs of the deceased.
Early Sunday morning, a group of ethnic Serb gunmen in armoured vehicles stormed the northern Kosovo town of Banjska, clashing with police and barricading themselves inside an Orthodox monastery, in an upsurge of violence in the troubled north which claimed the lives of one Kosovo police officer and three Serb gunmen.
Pristina accused Belgrade of supporting the gunmen, branding them ‘terrorists,’ an accusation Serbia denies. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the gunmen were local Kosovo Serbs ‘who no longer want to put up with Kurti’s terror.’
The recent unrest in Kosovo has its roots in violent clashes that erupted following a disputed local election in May. EU-mediated political talks aimed at stabilising the situation have stalled, and Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008 remains unrecognised by Serbia, China, Russia, and others. »
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