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“700 MORE TROOPS”
A total of 30 peacekeepers – 11 Italians and 19 Hungarians – were wounded in Monday’s clashes, according to KFOR.
Fifty-two protesters were also injured, three of them “seriously”, while five Serbs were arrested for taking part in the clashes.
On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned attacks on the alliance’s forces in Kosovo, saying they were “unacceptable and must stop”.
“We have decided to deploy 700 more troops from the operational reserve force for Western Balkans and to put an additional battalion of reserve forces on high alertness so that they can also be deployed if needed,” Stoltenberg said.
“Violence sets back Kosovo and the entire region.”
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticised ally Kosovo, blaming Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government for “sharply and unnecessarily escalated tensions” by installing ethnic Albanian mayors.
The US also suspended Kosovo from an ongoing military exercise.
Kosovo declared independence from Belgrade after US-led NATO military intervention in 1999 effectively ended a bitter war between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
Serbia – along with its key allies China and Russia – still does not recognise the move, preventing Pristina from having a seat at the United Nations.
Kosovo is mainly populated by ethnic Albanians, but the Serbs who make up around 6 per cent of the population have remained largely loyal to Belgrade, especially in the north where they are a majority.
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