NATO announced that 200 British soldiers have arrived in Kosovo on Friday to reinforce its Kosovo peacekeeping mission, KFOR, following a deadly attack on Kosovo Police in the north of the country last month and heightened tensions in the region.

“The troop deployment is a measured step to ensure that KFOR has the forces it needs to fulfill its UN mandate of maintaining a secure environment and ensuring free movement for all the people in Kosovo”, NATO said in a press release.

UK decided to send additional troops to its contingent in Kosovo, which already has 400 British soldiers, at the request of the Supreme Alliance Commander for Europe, SACEUR, US General Chris Cavoli.

NATO’s decision to increase peacekeeping troops in Kosovo comes about two weeks after the Kosovo Police was attacked by an armed group of Serbs in the village of Banjské, in the municipality of Zveçan, on September 24, where Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku was killed.

In the ensuing fighting in the village monastery, three Serbian attackers were killed.

Kosovo police found and confiscated an extraordinary arsenal of weapons in and around Banjska in the days following the attack.