Kosovo Police Display Confiscated Weapons Following Monastery Attack

Hand grenades confiscated from the northern, Serb-majority district where an attack on an Orthodox monastery left four people dead, including a police officer, were exhibited to journalists by Kosovar police on September 25.
 

Artillery pieces were also confiscated.

Roads into the village of Banjska, where the monastery is located, remained blocked by police on September 26, and authorities were searching homes trying to identify the masterminds behind the attack two days earlier.

Radio communications equipment along with bullets and cartridges were displayed.

A total of eight people have been arrested so far, according to Veton Elshani, a top regional police official, and access to the village remains blocked.

"The police still haven't finished their work, they don't know when it will happen, maybe today during the day," he told RFE/RL.

The general director of the Kosovo Police, Gazmend Hoxha, said that in a Mercedes car with Belgrade license plates, a gun permit was found in the name of Millan Radoicic.

Around 30 people dressed in military-like uniforms stormed the Serbian Orthodox complex in Banjska on September 24, sparking a gunbattle with Kosovar police.

A permit to carry weapons for personal use issued to Millan Radoicic was displayed in the vehicle.

Three attackers were killed, along with a Kosovar police officer. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti declared a day of mourning for the slain officer.

Identity cards and bank cards suspected to belong to the attackers were also shown.

Among those arrested, four had radio communications equipment, police said, and a "significant amount" of weaponry, ammunition, and other equipment was also found.

A single-use hand-held rocket launcher was found at the scene.

The attack, and the murkiness of its circumstances, comes as tensions continue to mount in the ethnic Serb-dominated north of Kosovo.

 

In addition to weapons and ammunition, the Kosovo Police said they also found military vehicles.

Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, and squabbling and conflicts have erupted over things like license-plate registrations and municipal elections.

Confiscated ammunition

At least six of the suspected attackers who escaped were now in Serbia receiving treatment at a hospital there, Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla told reporters, and he demanded that Serbia hand them over to Kosovar authorities.

Crates of ammunition, a Serbian flag, and other confiscated items are displayed.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has denied that Belgrade was involved in the incident. He also repeated that Serbia would "never" recognize Kosovo's independence, "neither formally nor informally."

This vehicle, which is suspected to have been used by the attackers, had a sticker with the inscription KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

Military-style vehicles and clothing

An armored car confiscated by the Kosovo Police was also presented.

Vehicle license plates with Belgrade registration

The United States' top diplomat called on both Kosovo and Serbia to avoid worsening tensions.