NATO soldiers injured in Kosovo clashes with Serb protesters

[Valin]

Reuters

Fatos Bytyci

May 30 2023

• Serbs reject new ethnic Albanian mayors after vote boycott
• KFOR says around 25 peacekeeping soldiers injured
• US rebukes Kosovo for imposing mayors in mainly Serb area

LEPOSAVIC, Kosovo, May 29 (Reuters) - Around 25 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters on Monday, while Serbia's president put the army on the highest level of combat alert.

KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo, condemned the violence.

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The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo's Serb majority area after elections the Serbs boycotted - a move that led the U.S. and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday.

In Zvecan, one of the towns, Kosovo police - staffed by ethnic Albanians after Serbs quit the force last year - sprayed pepper gas to repel a crowd of Serbs who broke through a security barricade and tried to force their way into the municipality building, witnesses said.

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