In the north of Kosovo, inhabited mostly by Serbs, there have been murders of policemen, politicians and others for years.
North Mitrovica, Zvečan, Leposavić and Zubin Potok are the municipalities of this area.
Local Serbs oppose Kosovo institutions and do not accept Kosovo citizenship.
The roughly 1.000 square kilometer area shares a long land border with Serbia that Kosovo authorities say is difficult to control.
In this part, there are frequent incidents with deaths and injuries, due to the conflict between the local Serbian population and the Kosovo authorities, who want to expand the state's control there.
Official Pristina blames Serbia for directly directing the incidents in the northern part of Kosovo. Belgrade denies this.
Radio Free Europe published a reminder of some of the bloody incidents in the north of Kosovo since 2008, when Kosovo declared independence.
September 2023
Afrim Bunjaku, sergeant of the Kosovo police, was killed in the village of Banjska in the municipality of Zvečan on September 24, 2023.
According to the Kosovo police, in the early hours of the morning, two trucks without license plates were placed on the bridge at the entrance to the village of Banjska, blocking traffic.
Police units, including Afrim Bunjaku, were attacked after arriving at the scene. Bunjaku did not survive his injuries.
The incident in which he was killed marked the beginning of an armed conflict between the Kosovo police and an armed group in Zvečan.
After the murder of Bunjaku, according to the police, about 30 armed attackers were stationed in and around the monastery of the village of Banjska in the municipality of Zvečan.
In the exchange of fire, three attackers were killed, and three more members of the Kosovo police were wounded.
September 2013
Audrius Senavicius, a police officer of the European Union Mission for the Rule of Law (EULEX), was killed in the north of Kosovo on September 19, 2013.
Senavicius was killed in an ambush in the Zvečana region, where two EULEX vehicles were attacked while they were returning from the border crossing with Serbia in Jarinje, towards the south of Mitrovica.
Two of his colleagues were also injured in this attack.
July 2011
Enver Zimberi, a member of the Kosovo police, was killed in the north of Kosovo on July 25, 2011.
March 2008
Igor Kinal, a police officer of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), was killed in the north of Kosovo on March 17, 2008.
A few weeks after the declaration of Kosovo's independence, a Ukrainian policeman was killed in clashes between Kosovo Serbs and international police forces.
Other murders that shook the north
Oliver Ivanovic, a Kosovo Serb politician, was killed on January 16, 2018 in North Mitrovica.
He was killed with six bullets in the back, and no one has yet been convicted of his murder.
Doctor Mesud Đeković was killed and 11 other ethnic Serbs were wounded in an explosion in North Mitrovica on July 2, 2010.
The explosion occurred as more than 1.000 Serbs protested against the opening of the registry office in the Bosniak quarter.
The situation in the north of Kosovo is still tense, and attempts to calm tensions have not succeeded even through the Kosovo-Serb dialogue.
The two countries have been negotiating for the normalization of relations since 2011.
The last round of negotiations between them, on September 14, ended without any agreement.
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