NATO boosts Kosovo presence with hundreds of UK troops

Some 200 British soldiers will be deployed to Kosovo to reinforce NATO's presence in the border region with Serbia, which was last week rocked by armed clashes, the alliance has said.

They are from a reserve force made available at the weekend to KFOR, the force deployed by NATO in Kosovo, to deal with the situation and the resurgence of tension in the region.

"The UK is deploying around 200 soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment to join a 400-strong UK contingent already exercising in Kosovo, and further reinforcements will follow from other allies," said Dylan White, NATO spokesman on Sunday.

"The decision follows the violent attack on Kosovo Police on 24 September, and increased tensions in the region," he added, without explicitly referring to Washington's statement on Friday warning of a Serbian military build-up on Kosovo's border.

NATO again called for calm on Sunday and demanded that Belgrade and Pristina resume dialogue as soon as possible as "the only way to achieve lasting peace," White said.

Rising tensions

A Kosovo police officer was killed last Sunday in an ambush in the north of Kosovo, where Serbs are the majority in several towns.

An armed clash ensued between the Kosovo police special forces and heavily armed Serbs.

It marked one of the most serious escalations in Kosovo in recent years.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and gained recognition from many countries, including Türkiye. But Belgrade has never recognised Kosovo and claims that its territory is still part of Serbia.

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Source: TRT