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Belgrade urges EU police to investigate murder of Serbs in Kosovo

Serbia’s Ministry for the Affairs of Kosovo and Metohija has issued a statement condemning the attack on two ethnic Serbs

BELGRADE, October 2 (Itar-Tass) – Serbia’s Ministry for the Affairs of Kosovo and Metohija has issued a statement condemning the attack on two ethnic Serbs committed by unknown gunmen earlier in the day on the territory of Kosovo.

Belgrade demands that the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo/EULEX/ engage in investigation of the crime, since the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija does not trust the local police consisting of members of the dominant Albanian majority.

Earlier in the day, Hazir Berisa, a spokesman for the police of the much-troubled breakaway region confirmed that ethnic Serbs had become the targets of an attack on the night from Saturday to Sunday.

One of them died on the spot and the other received severe wounds.

Berisa claimed the Kosovar police had organized several raids and searches but no one had been arrested by the time of reporting and the motives of the crime were not known either.

Unknown gunmen opened fire at the Serbs, the father and the son, when the two latter men were walking out of a restaurant in the township of Zrze. The father died on the spot and the son was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.

Marjan Saric, the mayor of Orahovac near which the attack occurred said it was committed by the dominating Kosovan Albanians and had an apparent ethnic motivation.

The statement by the ministry for Kosovo and Metohija said the tragedy causes deep alarm and that is why Serbia’s government is asking the international forces to ensure security of all the ethnic Serbs living to the south of the Ibar river.

The police fear that the incident may fuel a further destabilization in Kosovo and Metohija and pave to way to more clashes between members of the ethnic Serb minority and the Kosovar police or troops of the NATO-bolstered KFOR forces.