Kosovo's leader demands Serbia hand over gunmen who attacked police

BANJSKA, Kosovo — Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Tuesday held Serbia accountable for trying to annex part of Kosovo following an incursion of Serb gunmen who killed a police officer in a shootout last year that raised tensions between the sides.

Kurti called on the international community to press Belgrade to hand over the gunmen who retreated to Serbia following a 12-hour standoff at a Serbian Orthodox monastery at Banjska, 55 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital Pristina.

“Serbia is responsible and Serbia should be held accountable,” said Kurti. “The plan was to divide Kosovo. The plan was to annex part of its territory.”

Kurti said the paramilitary group was “orchestrated and financed from Serbia” and had earlier brought to Kosovo a large quantity of weaponry “for a wider and longer conflict.” Kosovo police later confiscated some 105 weapons and more than 80,000 ammunition rounds. Serbia says the gunmen acted on their own.

A road to Banjska was named Afrim Bunjaku, after the slain police officer.

Earlier this month Kosovo prosecutors filed charges of violation of the constitutional and legal order, terror activities, funding terrorism and money laundering against 45 people, which further raised tensions between Serbia and its former breakaway province. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Only three people have been arrested while others are at large.

Among those charged in absentia is Milan Radoicic, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and President Aleksandar Vucic.

Last year Serbia briefly detained Radoicic after the shootout on suspicion of criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of weapons and explosives and grave acts against public safety. Radoicic denied the charges although earlier admitted he was part of the paramilitary group involved in the gunfight.

Radoicic is also under U.S. and British sanctions for his alleged financial criminal activity.

The European Union and the U.S. condemned the attack and have called on Serbia to hand over the gunmen.

EU spokesman Peters Stano on Tuesday reiterated the “call for swift prosecution of those responsible," saying it's a reminder of the need to maintain security and advance normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey M. Hovenier said it was Washington's "expectation that the perpetrators and all those who were involved in that horrific crime are held fully accountable.”

“The failure to hold those responsible accountable, despite clear admissions of guilt, undermines peace in the region and sends a dangerous message. Justice must be done. No more delays or excuses,” the German Embassy in Pristina said in a statement.

Kosovo was a Serbian province until NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left about 13,000 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out. Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008.

Brussels and Washington are pressing both sides to implement agreements that Vucic and Kurti reached in February and March last year. They include a commitment by Kosovo to establish an Association of the Serb-Majority Municipalities. Serbia is also expected to deliver on the de-facto recognition of Kosovo, which Belgrade still considers its province.

The NATO-led international peacekeepers known as KFOR have increased their presence in Kosovo after last year’s tense moments.