North Kosovo ethnic tensions remain risk for violence, NATO official says

FILE PHOTO: Polish soldiers part of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission stand as they monitor the main Kosovo-Serbia border crossing in Merdare, Kosovo September 6, 2024. REUTERS/Valdrin Xhemaj/File Photo

PRISTINA (Reuters) - Persistent ethnic tension in north Kosovo could trigger a repeat of violence seen in the area last year, when four people died in a gun battle and NATO peacekeepers were hurt in clashes, a senior official from the military alliance warned on Saturday.

Kosovo is predominantly ethnic Albanian but about 50,000 Serbs in the north reject Pristina's government and see Belgrade as their capital. A former Serbian province, Kosovo declared independence in 2008 a decade after a guerrilla uprising.