Kosovo blames Serbia for explosion that cut water and power supplies

A powerful explosion damaged a water canal and temporarily cut water and power supply to Kosovo’s cities, the prime minister said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the explosion on Friday in Vrage, 60 kilometres north of the capital Pristina, disrupted water supply to some cities and main power plants. It followed two other explosions in previous days on police station buildings and local authorities in the same area in the north of the country, mostly populated by the ethnic Serb minority.

Kurti blamed “official Belgrade and its criminal structures led by Milan Radoicic, supported by Serb institutions and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic.”

Radoicic, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and Vucic, was among 45 people charged in Kosovo in connection with a gunfight last year in which a Kosovar police officer was killed following an incursion by heavily armed Serb gunmen.

Only three Serbs have been arrested and the others are at large, including Radoicic, who Pristina says is protected by Belgrade.

Read more: Euronews