- PRISTINA, Kosovo: NATO says 21 of its soldiers were injured overnight during clashes with Serb protesters resisting the dismantling of a concrete roadblock in Kosovo’s north.
NATO said in a statement Thursday that Serb protesters threw stones and drove trucks loaded with gravel into the troops.
The force said one soldier was seriously injured in the disturbances, and it fired tear gas before backing away and ending the operation to avoid “serious casualties on both sides.” An explosion was also reported.
Serbs in Kosovo’s north have been blocking roads since summer angered by Kosovan authorities’ attempt to send ethnic Albanian customs and police officers into the Serb area.
Many Serbs that live there reject the country’s 2008 secession from Serbia and say NATO supports Kosovo institutions.
