BELGRADE -- Serbia is conducting a "serious investigation" into the explosion on the Ibar-Lepenac Canal in Kosovo, President Aleksandar Vucic said as he again rejected accusations by Pristina that his government was involved in the attack.
"Belgrade and Serbia had no knowledge [of the incident], nor would it ever occur to us to do that, and we will prove it,” Vucic said in a public address on December 1, without providing details.
“We have some suspicions, but we will not talk about them. We have information about who might be the perpetrator," he added.
SEE ALSO: Serbian, Kosovar Negotiators Meet With EU Envoy To Jump-Start Stalled TalksVucic emphasized that he "does not want to say that [Kosovo Prime Minister Albin] Kurti organized everything" but said the investigation "will show everything."
He also accused Kurti of using the incident to bolster his grip on the north of Kosovo, where a local Serbian majority refuses to recognize the government in Pristina and looks to Belgrade as their capital.
Vucic said Serbia is ready to work with the European Union, NATO-led KFOR, and even Pristina in the investigation.
The explosion on November 29 struck a canal that sends water to Kosovo's two coal-fired power plants -- which account for most of the country's power output -- and provides much of Kosovo's water supply.
Kurti called the blast a "criminal and terrorist attack" by northern neighbor and bitter rival Serbia, without providing evidence, and said the attack aimed to "damage perhaps the most important infrastructure" in the country.
On November 30, Kosovo said it had arrested eight people on charges related to the blast. Police alleged that most of those detained belonged the ethnic-Serbian group Civilna Zastita (Civil Protection), which Kosovo has declared a terrorist organization.
The EU, without placing blame, on November 30 denounced the explosion at the Kosovo canal as a "terrorist act."
"It is a despicable act of sabotage on Kosovo's critical civilian infrastructure, which provides drinking water for considerable part of Kosovo's population and is a vital component of Kosovo's energy system," the bloc's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a statement.
Washington also condemned the attack, with spokesman Matthew Miller saying, “We will support efforts to find and punish those responsible and appreciate all offers of support to that effort.”
Tensions are habitually high between the two Balkan neighbors. Serbia has not recognized Kosovo's independence, which it declared in 2008.
Kosovo has an ethnic Serbian majority in several districts, while ethnic Albanians overwhelmingly populate the rest of the Balkan country.