PRISTINA: Kosovo has closed its borders to freight and vehicular traffic from Serbia in response to the alleged abduction of three Kosovar police officers by Serbian security forces in the north of the country, German news agency (dpa) quoted news media in Pristina.
The reports late on Wednesday cited the Kosovar Customs authorities and a statement from a government spokesman.
Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said Serbian security forces had abducted the three police officers on Kosovar territory near the border with Serbia some hours earlier as they were investigating smuggling routes used by Serbian criminals.
The Serbian authorities denied this and said the officers had been detained almost two kilometres inside Serbian territory. The three had been heavily armed and were planning a terrorist attack in Serbia, they said.
Tensions between the two countries have been rising for months.
Largely Albanian Kosovo was part of Serbia but declared independence unilaterally in 2008. Serbia, which has not recognised Kosovo as an independent state, regularly foments tensions in the northern part of the country, where the Serbian population predominates.
NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo came under attack in the north at the end of May, with dozens injured on both sides in the clashes that erupted over the appointment of Albanian mayors in the region. The Serbian population had previously boycotted the elections on instructions from Belgrade. – Bernama
