Roadside ambush in Kosovo claims 1

| September 19, 2013

Stars & Stripes reports that a Lithuanian policeman was killed and two others were injured in Kosovo yesterday in a roadside ambush;

Troops with NATO’s Kosovo Force came under attack several times in 2011 and 2012 as they tried to remove barriers erected by ethnic Serbs to isolate the north from the rest of the country. An agreement between leaders of the two nations earlier this year suggested relations were smoothing, although extremists are still active on both sides.

From the New York Times;

The shooting came as Kosovo and Serbia have been trying to put in place a power-sharing accord that the two countries signed in April. The agreement, under which Serbia agreed to recognize Pristina’s authority over the police and the courts in the north in return for greater autonomy for Kosovo’s northern Serbs, has been greeted with deep ambivalence and in some cases outright hostility by some of the north’s 50,000 Serbs.

While the agreement stops short of Serbs recognizing Kosovo’s independence, which Belgrade vehemently opposes, it has been lauded by the European Union, which brokered it, as a breakthrough that could help overcome ethnic divisions and cement peace in the region. Some Serbs, however, have vowed to resist the accord, boycott municipal elections planned for early November and leave Kosovo.

Yeah, well, obviously, someone isn’t happy. The NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the ambush was “unacceptable”, so that should stop them in their tracks.

Category: Terror War

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UpNorth

“The NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the ambush was “unacceptable””. Wow, that’ll show them. What’s next, a strongly-worded letter?

Ex-PH2

Serbia? Kosovo? I thought that was all settled a long time ago. (Longer ago that Jay Carney’s memory banks can recall.)

Is this starting up again? Why is there no end to this stuff?

Combat Historian

JOINT GUARDIAN, TF FALCON, TF HAWK, Camp Bondsteel, Camp Monteith, Gnjilane…Boy, those names seems like from a lifetime ago, but it was only 1999; time sure flies….

Old Tanker

UpNorth,
Maybe he will break wind in their general direction? Or taunt them a second time?

mr. sharkman

The certainly is brief, but Rasmussen is one of the good guys when it comes to modern era European politicians.

He had our back going into Iraq (when it was not the most politically expedient view for him to have) and he’s stood up to the muslim PC/multiculturalism insanity when most other European politicians are on their knees asking for ‘seconds’.

I have no doubts he will do what he can to facilitate the dropping of hammers on whomever is behind the attack.

mr. sharkman

The statement certainly is brief, but Rasmussen is one of the good guys when it comes to modern era European politicians.

He had our back going into Iraq (when it was not the most politically expedient view for him to have) and he’s stood up to the muslim PC/multiculturalism insanity when most other European politicians are on their knees asking for ‘seconds’.

I have no doubts he will do what he can to facilitate the dropping of hammers on whomever is behind the attack.

MGySgtRet.

So what is Obama’s red line for this theater of operations?? How long before Putin is eating his lunch over Kosovo??

CC Senor

@8 Maybe he’ll ask Billy Jeff for advice.

Ex-PH2

So, things that were thought to have been settled are now heating up all over again? I just want to understand.

FrostyCWO, stay safe. Keep your eyes and ears open.

FrostyCWO

@Ex-PH2,
It’s complex (which really caveats everything in the Balkans), but this is the first incident of outright violence in two years. This place is way safer than Fayetteville. These guys are EU police that have a mission in Kosovo to improve the local justice system. They are not part of KFOR. There are all kinds of reasons why people don’t like police officers. This may or may not have been related to ethnic tensions.
I am working staff at the US contingent headquarters, so it’s pretty relaxed.
Check us out:
https://www.facebook.com/KFOR.MNBG.East

uacivpol

I spent five years there during 2000-2007 Got hurt and sent back to the U.S. Jan 2007. You should start with the break up of Yugoslavia as the modern start point. The Locals will tell you that to understand Kosovo you have to understand the battle of the field of the black birds. That was June 15, 1389. A simplified version. I can talk about this for hours. Bosnia was over for the most part when the Kosovo “war” started. Bosnia was a blood bath. There are mass graves in Bosnia with 800 bodies in them. Let’s talk about Kosovo. Kosovo has 1 (one) confirmed mass grave. The official count is 47. The locals told me it was 17, but OK, we will go with 47. There were NO prison camps, work camps, rape camps in Kosovo. The Kosovo situation was started by a terrorist organization called the KLA. They started ambushing police patrols, attacking outlying villages. Milosevic taking a lot of well deserved heat for the goings on in Bosnia down like a hammer. He thought for sure the world would back him on this, as it was attacks on Serb territory and people. Milosevic never understood international politics. Some how the International Community that had done next to nothing for all of the Bosnia Slaughter Jumped in on Kosovo. The Bosnian Albanians are still pissed about this as they wanted the KLA to attack WHILE the Bosnia war was running, splitting the Serb forces. The Albanians are however far better at propaganda to the international audience. Worked for them during the war. Milosevic kept repeating the same nationalist local election crap that sells so well in the Balkans never understanding he was by then addressing the world. In five years in Kosovo I met four or five Albanians that actually fought in the war. Albanians aint fighters as a rule. The first president, Rogava who died in office was hiding in a camp in Italy during the war. The Second President was one of the “generals” from the war. He is the leader of the LDK party. They… Read more »

SgtBob

Stars & Stripes doesn’t say who did the ambush. Kosovo Muslims are good at initiating bad stuff and getting the world to blame Serbs. There are no innocents. Except maybe kids not yet big enough to pull a trigger.

Anonymous

They killed Joey Suponcic ( http://edition.cnn.com/1999/US/12/16/kosovo.soldier/index.html?_s=PM:US ). Things haven’t changed much.

Ex-PH2

@12-Uacivpol, thanks for the inside look. I’ve known for a while that the peacekeeper troops were there, because occasionally I will see something about joint war games and exercises in the news.

I’m just concerned that what appeared to have been ‘problem solved’ was simply sitting on the back burner for more than a decade.