Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti says about 30 militants are surrounded by authorities in northern Kosovo.
Authorities are calling on them to surrender, hours after a patrol was ambushed in the area, killing one policeman. Kurti said during a press conference on Sunday:
There are at least 30 professional, military or police armed people who are surrounded by our police forces and whom I invite to surrender to our security agencies.
Earlier, Kurti said clashes between militants and police continued in northern Kosovo. He wrote on social media.
The gunfire against the police is ongoing. This is the reason why we have been calling for Serbia to stop sponsoring terrorist attacks in the north.
The clashes came hours after Kosovo police said one policeman was killed and another wounded in the area during an armed attack on a patrol approaching a blocked road near the border with Serbia.
The incident happened at 01:00 GMT when two heavy vehicles without number plates positioned themselves on a bridge in the village of Banjska. The vehicles blocked the entrance and started shooting at the arriving police units.
Police managed to push back the attack and take two injured police officers at the hospital in southern Mitrovica. One of them was dead on arrival, doctors said. Serbia has not yet commented on the incident, but President Vucic was expected to speak about the situation later in the day.
Northern Kosovo’s rule of law has been run by international police officers from the EU mission, EULEX, and a limited number of Kosovo police, whose presence has been vehemently protested by Belgrade. The border is guarded by peacekeepers from the 4,000-strong NATO-led KFOR force, which has been in Kosovo since 1999.
