Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated on Saturday that there is a “void that needs filling” along the country’s northern border, despite the “unilateral commitment” made by his predecessor to NATO, preventing the Kosovo Security Force (FSK) from entering this region.

Kurti made these comments during a Self-Determination Movement General Council meeting on Saturday, almost a week after an attack on the Kosovo Police by armed individuals in Banjska, Zvecan, which resulted in the death of a police officer.

He said, “There is a unilateral commitment to NATO by one of my predecessors that prohibits the FSK from entering the north, but we must protect our border. This void must be filled, and we are increasing cooperation with our international partners, including NATO’s presence, and KFOR in the region. Serbia must be held accountable internationally for this act of aggression against our republic because each time it has gone unpunished for its actions, it has repeated them, and this should not be allowed”.

In contrast to the Kosovo Police, an agreement between Kosovo and NATO restricts the deployment of the Kosovo Security Force in the northern municipalities of North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok, and Leposavic.

This restriction is based on a 2013 exchange of letters between the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, and the former NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. In these letters, Thaci assured NATO that the FSK would only carry out missions in north Kosovo in coordination with KFOR.

NATO’s current Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, has emphasized on multiple occasions to Kosovo institutions that this agreement remains in effect.

Attack in the northern region

On September 24, Kosovo Police encountered an armed group while en route to inspect a roadblock near a bridge in Banjska, where a police officer named Afrim Bunjaku lost his life.

The attackers sought refuge in a village monastery and continued to engage with the police, leading to the deaths of three assailants.

Three individuals suspected of participating in the attack have been apprehended and are presently in pre-trial detention in Pristina.

Five days following the attack, Milan Radojičić, the outgoing deputy head of the Serb List, the primary party representing Serbs in Kosovo, claimed responsibility for organizing the attack.

In an interview with Radio Free Europe on September 29, Kosovo’s Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla asserted that Radojičić did not act independently, as he had claimed, but received support from Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić. Sveçla further noted that ongoing investigations had revealed the involvement of “over 80 terrorists” in the attack in Banjska.

Subsequent to the attack, the Kosovo Police discovered and confiscated an assortment of weapons.

Meanwhile, NATO announced on Friday that it had authorized the deployment of additional forces to northern Kosovo, an area predominantly inhabited by Serbs, due to escalating tensions.

Serbia has denied any involvement in the attack, which Kosovo authorities have classified as a terrorist act.