The Serbian Government has declared September 27 as a day of mourning in response to what they’ve termed “tragic events” in Kosovo.

Simultaneously, the Serb List, the largest party representing Serbs in Kosovo and backed by Belgrade, has announced a three-day period of mourning in Kosovo’s Serbian-majority municipalities.

According to Kosovo’s laws, only the country’s president can declare a national day of mourning, while individual municipalities hold the authority to do so at a local level.

On September 24, in the early morning hours, a group of masked and armed individuals attacked the Kosovo Police while they were investigating an unauthorized roadblock set up by two trucks in Banjska. This incident resulted in the death of Kosovo Police officer Afrim Bunjaku, with several other officers sustaining injuries.

During the exchange of gunfire, the police killed three attackers of Serbian nationality and apprehended eight others.

Following an extraordinary session on September 26, the Serbian Government called on all media outlets and organizers of public events to adjust their schedules in honor of the day of mourning, which falls on Wednesday, September 27.

The Serb List announced on Facebook that they have declared September 26, 27, and 28 as days of mourning “to mourn the loss of our fellow citizens in a tragic incident in Banjska within the municipality of Zvecan”.

They specified that all entertaining events organized by local self-governing bodies and institutions in Serbian communities in Kosovo should be canceled. Additionally, they mentioned that the flags of the Republic of Serbia would be flown at half-mast in all institutions.

The Serb List leads six municipalities in southern Kosovo with Serbian majorities. In the four northern municipalities, Albanian mayors took office after the April elections, which were boycotted by local Serbs.

The Kosovo Police continued house and facility searches in and around the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo on Tuesday, two days after the armed clashes.

Access to the village of Zvecan remains blocked, and it is unclear when it will be reopened, according to Veton Elshani, the deputy director of the Kosovo Police for the northern region.

Western nations strongly condemned the armed attack on the Kosovo Police and called for an urgent investigation, urging that those involved be brought to justice.

Kosovo held Serbia responsible for the attack, while official Belgrade blamed Kosovo Serbs.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated on Sunday that a “terrorist and criminal group of 30 individuals” had participated in the attack.

Kurti described the armed assailants as “a well-organized professional unit that came to fight in Kosovo”.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that the armed individuals were local Serbs in Kosovo who “could no longer tolerate Kurti’s terror”.