Deadly clashes in Kosovo, triggered by the killing of a police officer, have exacerbated ethnic tensions and tested diplomatic relations, highlighting the challenges to reconciliation in the former breakaway province.

Nearly a week after deadly clashes in Kosovo triggered one of the gravest escalations in the former breakaway province in years, the opportunity for reconciliation between ethnic Albanians and Serbs seemed as distant as ever.

The killing of a Kosovo police officer and an ensuing gun battle at a monastery brought years of distrust and bitterness to the surface, as a war of words between Serbia and Pristina’s governments, competing days of mourning, and calls for sanctions marred already fractious relations.

On Sunday, three Serb gunmen were killed in an hours-long shootout with Kosovo police, after they ambushed a patrol and later barricaded themselves at an Orthodox monastery near the northern border with Serbia.

In the wake of the clashes, Kosovo police have rounded up suspects, remanded three alleged gunmen in custody, and seized an arsenal of weapons that authorities said could have armed hundreds.

On Friday morning, Kosovo police fanned out again across the north as they conducted an operation that saw the special units raid properties linked to the suspected mastermind of the attack on the police.

The move triggered immediate condemnation from Belgrade, with Serbia’s Office for Kosovo calling the operation a “brutal and excessive demonstration of force” with special police units “armed to the teeth”.

A police officer looks on as Kosovo police officers search a restaurant and building in northern Serb-dominated part of ethnically divided town of Mitrovica on September 29, 2023. (STRINGER, AFP)

Later on Friday, the United States called on Belgrade to pull its forces back from the border with Kosovo after detecting what it called an unprecedented Serbian military build-up.

Serbia had deployed sophisticated tanks and artillery on the frontier, the White House warned.

NATO meanwhile said it was ready to increase its peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

In the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in the north, Serb residents said they feared an increased presence of Kosovo police and ensuing crackdowns in the already restive community.

Further south in the capital Pristina, the mostly ethnic Albanian residents, by and large, pinned the blame for the weekend’s violence on the Serbian government, saying peace would only be possible after amends were made.

Sunday’s clashes came more than a week after the latest round of talks between Kosovo and Serbia leaders aimed at improving ties failed to make any headway during European Union-sponsored negotiations in Brussels.

The EU talks looked all but dead in the water in the wake of attacks, even as a new round of shuttle diplomacy appeared to kick off with calls to de-escalate soaring tensions.

The clash in the north is just the latest in a long list of incidents to rattle the area since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Serbia, and key allies China and Russia, have refused to recognize the move.

Miroslava Salazar, with AFP