Serbia arrests suspected leader in Kosovo police killing
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The Serbian Interior Ministry says Milan Radoicic was remanded in custody for 48 hours and handed to the Belgrade public prosecutor's office.
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Kosovo police officers secure a cross road in the village of Banjska on Sunday, September 24, 2023. (AP)
Serbia has detained the suspected commander of a squad of gunmen who killed a Kosovo police officer on September 24, according to the Serbian Interior Ministry.
Milan Radoicic was placed in jail for 48 hours and turned over to the Belgrade public prosecutor's office, according to the ministry, which also stated that police inspected his apartment and other possessions. It did not specify where he was detained.
Formerly vice-president of the Serbian List (Srpska Lista), the main political grouping of Kosovo Serbs, Radoicic resigned from his post last week. He was questioned by Serbian police for the first time on Saturday.
A few days earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had stated that Radoicic was in "central Serbia" and available for questioning by the Serb authorities.
Around 30 gunmen were involved in the hours-long shootout in the village of Banjska on September 24, after they ambushed a police patrol and later barricaded themselves in a monastery near the northern border with Serbia.
The day after Kosovo's Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla accused Radoicic of leading the paramilitary commando.
Several days later, Radoicic himself said he had set up the armed group without the knowledge of Serbia.
Three other men have been arrested, suspected like Radoicic of "terrorism" by Kosovo prosecutors.
Kosovo's government has accused Belgrade of backing the entire operation, with Prime Minister Albin Kurti claiming that the weapons and equipment used in Sunday's attack were "made by Serbian state-owned military arms producers."
Serbia has demanded an increased presence of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Kosovo, Vucic said on Monday.
"We do not need any kind of wars, any kind of clashes with NATO. On the contrary, we want to see — and I am reiterating this — a bigger presence of KFOR in Kosovo, particularly in the north. That would be, we hope, one of the ways to support the Serbian people's safety and security, particularly in northern Kosovo," the Serbian President said in an interview with CNN.
He stressed that Serbia is the last country that needs negative developments to take place in Kosovo.
NATO authorized additional forces to address the "current situation" in Kosovo, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday in a statement.
Stoltenberg also urged all parties to de-escalate noting that the "only way to resolve outstanding issues and reach solutions that respect the rights of all communities," is for Kosovo and Serbia to "engage in the EU-facilitated dialogue."
The move comes in light of the recent escalation in tensions between the two countries, which have been simmering for years.
