8 arrested after blast disrupts Kosovo water and power supplies

PRISTINA, Kosovo — A powerful explosion damaged a water canal and temporarily cut water and power supplies to Kosovo’s cities, the prime minister said Saturday, blaming groups supported by Serbia. Kurti blamed “official Belgrade and its criminal structures led by Milan Radoičić, supported by Serb institutions and Serbia President Aleksandar Vučić.” Radoičić, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and Vučić, 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. Serbia Foreign Minister Marko Đurić condemned Friday’s explosion but also criticized Kurti’s “ethnonationalist regime” rushing “to point fingers at Belgrade without evidence.” “We believe that such premature accusations are a deliberate diversion,” Đurić said. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell spoke on the phone with Kurti to condemn the “despicable act of sabotage on Kosovo’s critical civilian infrastructure” and he called “on all stakeholders to cooperate fully with the Kosovo authorities.” The U.S. Embassy in Pristina said that “these violent actions have no place in a democratic society, and those responsible for these criminal attacks against the legitimate authorities of the Republic of Kosovo should be held accountable.” Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, who canceled a trip to Brunei because of the incidents, met with diplomatic representatives of Western powers and the EU to express her concern that such “attacks aim not only at destabilizing Kosovo but also represent a serious threat to the stability of the whole region.” Kosovo-Serbia relations remain tense despite efforts by the international community to normalize them.