Accusations fly after blast hits key Kosovo water system

An explosion late Friday damaged a key aqueduct in Kosovo that sends water to the country’s two main power plants, prompting allegations and recriminations with neighboring Serbia amid rising tensions in the region.

Pristina labeled the blast a “terrorist attack” by neighboring Serbia, a charge that Belgrade quickly called “baseless.”

A sprawling police raid across northern Kosovo hours after the attack uncovered more than two hundred military uniforms, anti-tank grenade launchers, Kalashnikovs and Russian and Serbian army patches, Kosovo authorities said.

“This is the single most serious attack on the country’s critical infrastructure since the end of the conflict in the country,” Kosovo’s Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla told reporters Saturday evening.

According to the police, around 20 kilograms of explosives in a black bag were placed on a section of the aqueduct in Zubin Potok and ignited by means of a wired detonator.

“This is not a random attack; it was well-organized and planned by a professional group … aiming to maximize the damage done to Kosovo and its citizens,” Sveçla said.

Eight people were arrested on suspicion of planning and organizing the attack.

Kosovo remains the most volatile area of the Balkans, with tensions constantly running high between the country, which declared independence in 2008, and its northern neighbor, Serbia.

In September of last year, in the same part of the country where Friday’s explosion took place, armed clashes erupted between local gunmen and the Kosovo police, with one police officer and three attackers being killed.

Since then, police forces have bolstered their presence in areas inhabited by the local Serb minority, who remain wary of Kosovo authorities and have protested multiple times in recent months, citing what they perceive as excessive measures by the government in Pristina.

Kosovo authorities immediately placed the blame for Friday’s blast on Serbia.

“This is a criminal and terrorist attack aimed at damaging our critical infrastructure … carried out by gangs organized and led by Serbia,” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a statement on Saturday.

Belgrade shot down the accusation, calling it “baseless … hastily made and without evidence.”

The two countries have been in an EU-facilitated dialogue for more than a decade aimed at ironing out their differences before they can potentially become members of the bloc.

The talks have recently stalled, largely due to the tense relationship between Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Their larger-than-life personalities are widely seen as ill-suited for a sensitive negotiation process that demands significant compromises from both sides.

Meetings in the Brussels dialogue are often delayed or fail to produce results when tensions escalate on the ground.

The European External Action Service shared Kosovo’s assessment of the blast as an act of terrorism. “The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack committed on Friday on the Iber Lepenc/Ibar Lepenac water canal in Zubin Potok in north Kosovo,” the EEAS said a statement, offering its support for the investigation into the explosion.

In the past couple of months, the NATO peacekeeping mission, which has operated as Kosovo’s de facto army since the 1998-1999 conflict, has steadily increased its presence in anticipation of possible escalations, including a 45-day mission by British troops that only recently concluded its deployment.

The attack will land on the desk of the brand-new EU High Representative for foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, due to assume her role next week. Some in the region predict that Kallas will take a more direct role in the Kosovo situation due to her strong anti-Russian convictions, which could include a more confrontational approach toward Serbia.