Kosovo steps up security after blast, Serbia denies involvement

Kosovo on Saturday stepped up security measures around “critical” infrastructure after an explosion in a key canal supplying two of its main power plants, with neighboring Serbia rejecting accusations it staged the blast.

The explosion occurred Friday near the town of Zubin Potok, in a Serb-majority area of ​​Kosovo’s troubled north, damaging the canal supplying water to the cooling systems of two coal-fired power plants that produce most of electricity in Kosovo.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti called a security meeting Friday evening, saying: “This is a criminal and terrorist attack aimed at damaging our critical infrastructure.”

“The attack was carried out by professionals. We believe it came from Serbian-led gangs,” he added without providing any evidence.

The government later issued a statement echoing his allegations, saying “initial indications suggest” that the explosion had been “orchestrated by the Serbian state, which has the capacity to carry out such a criminal and terrorist attack.”

Kosovo also “approved additional measures to strengthen security around essential infrastructure and services, such as bridges, transformers” and other sites, the statement said.

Serbia responded Saturday by condemning the attack, while calling the accusation “premature” and “baseless.”

“Such destructive actions are unacceptable and threaten the fragile stability we strive to maintain,” Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said on X.

“Serbia unequivocally demands accountability from the perpetrators of this irresponsible attack,” he added, while suggesting that the Kosovar “regime” could be behind the explosion and calling for an international investigation.

The main political party representing Serbs in Kosovo, the Serbian List, also condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms”.

Images from the scene published by local media showed heavy water leaking from one side of the reinforced canal, which connects Serbian-majority northern Kosovo to the capital Pristina and also supplies drinking water.

However, electricity supplies to consumers were operating smoothly on Saturday morning as authorities found an alternative method to cool the power plants, Kosovo Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli said.

Repair work was underway, authorities said.

-‘Criminal attack’ –

The United States strongly condemned “the attack on critical infrastructure in Kosovo,” the American embassy in Pristina said in a statement on Facebook.

“We are monitoring the situation closely… and have offered our full support to the government of Kosovo to ensure that those responsible for this criminal attack are identified and held accountable.”

The European Union ambassador to Kosovo, Aivo Orav, also condemned the attack while calling for an investigation.

“I have already offered EU assistance to the Kosovo authorities. The incident must be investigated and those responsible brought to justice,” he said on X.

Animosity between predominantly Albanian Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the end of the war between Serbian forces and Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move that Serbia has refused to recognize.

Kurti’s government has for months sought to dismantle a Belgrade-backed parallel system of social services and political offices serving Kosovo’s Serbs.

Friday’s attack follows a series of violent incidents in northern Kosovo, including the throwing of hand grenades at a municipal building and a police station earlier this week.

ih/ljv/tym/giv/ach