Serbian policeman killed by man identified as Kosovo Albanian

autor:

18. jul. 2024. 13:09

| News

A police officer was shot to death on the night of Wednesday-Thursday in the western Serbian city of Loznica by a man identified as a Kosovo Albanian prompting reactions from officials in Belgrade and Pristina.

Reports said that the police officer was killed when a taxi was stopped for a routine check. Another officer was wounded by the passenger who refused a search of his bag and opened fire on the police patrol.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said the person suspected of having driven from Presevo to the western Serbian city of Loznica the man who shot dead the Serbian police officer on the night of Wednesday-Thursday has been detained, along with his wife as an accomplice, in Bijeljina, Republika Srpska (BiH).

Internal Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic said the shooter was identified from a passport issued by the Kosovo authorities and a German ID card as Hajrizi Artan. He fired a sidearm while getting out of the vehicle hitting one officer in the chest and the other in the shoulder before escaping.

Dacic said the attack on police officers Nikola Krsmanovic and Vjekoslav Ilic is believed to be “a terrorist attack organized by Albanian structures in Kosovo”. According to the minister, the police is investigating whether the passport and ID card were in the hands of Artan or his brother Faton who escaped from prison in Kosovo.

Artan Hajrizi told Pristina-based Insajderi that his brother stole his passport and ID card. Speaking from a police station in Germany, Artan said his brother visited him two days earlier and stole the documents adding that he reported the theft to the police but without specifying when.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti told a news conference in Pristina that he only knows what the media reported about the attack on the Serbian policemen. “Serbia is the source of the information. Our bodies will inform the public about the current situation,” Radio KiM reported him as saying. Kurti said the case should not be made political but should only be treated from the aspect of security and the law.

The Serbian Police Union condemned the killing of officer Krsmanovic and wounding of Ilic and recalled that this was the third armed attack on the police in the past month.