Kosovo Marks Third Anniversary of Banjska Clash with Memorial Stone

Kosovo on Thursday commemorated the third anniversary of a deadly confrontation between its police force and a group of armed Serb men in the northern village of Banjska, an episode that sharply escalated tensions across the Balkans.

The September 2023 violence unfolded when heavily armed Serb fighters erected barricades in northern Kosovo before engaging police in a gunbattle that lasted several hours. A Kosovo police officer and three of the gunmen were killed.

To mark the anniversary of officer Afrim Bunjaku's death, a foundation stone was laid in Banjska, part of the Zvecan municipality, for a memorial obelisk honouring the officer killed in the line of duty. Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla and acting President Albulena Haxhiu were among those attending the ceremony, alongside members of the fallen officer's family.

Svecla described the events of 2023 as a confrontation between Kosovo's institutions, chiefly its police, and what he called a terrorist group organised, supported and financed by the state of Serbia. He credited Bunjaku with leading the police by example to defeat the group.

The minister also called on Kosovo's partners and allies to step up pressure on Serbia to hand over all members of the group, which he said was led by Milan Radojcic. Without justice being served, he said, there could be no normalisation of relations between the two states.

Radojcic, a Kosovo Serb politician and businessman, claimed responsibility for organising the attack after Kosovo's Interior Ministry released drone footage that it said showed him among the armed group.

Kosovo prosecutors have indicted Radojcic and 44 others on terrorism-related charges. The indictment accuses the group of seeking to secede northern Kosovo and unite it with Serbia. A Kosovo court has so far convicted and sentenced only three members of the group; the rest remain at large, beyond the reach of Kosovo's judicial system and unavailable to stand trial there.