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Serbian Politician Gunned Down in Kosovo, Attack Called Terror Act

Serbian Politician Gunned Down in Kosovo, Attack Called Terror Act
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Leading Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic was killed in a brazen drive-by shooting on Tuesday that could reignite ethnic tensions in the region.

Serbian Politician Gunned Down in Kosovo, Attack Called Terror Act

The assassination of Ivanovic - who was facing a retrial on war crimes charges over the 1990s Kosovo conflict - occurred on the very day that Belgrade and Pristina resumed talks on normalizing ties after a hiatus of more than a year.

The Serbian government official in charge of Kosovo, Marko Djuric, described the murder as "a criminal, terrorist act against the entire Serbian people".

Ivanovic, 64, was shot dead by gunmen firing from a car as he arrived at the headquarters of his party in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica at about 8:15 am (7.15am GMT), according to police.

"I am informed that he was shot dead on the spot and efforts to revive him at Mitrovica hospital were unsuccessful," his lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic told AFP.

He said Ivanovic, a moderate politician who had been a critic of Belgrade's policies in Kosovo, was hit by five bullets.

Police said they found a burnt-out car that was presumably used in the attack, local media reported. They have currently blocked the northern districts of Kosovka Mitrovica to locate the perpetrator.

SDP party official Ksenija Bozovic has said to RSE that police officers have found three shell casings at the scene.

Public prosecutor Shyqri Syla told AFP that investigators were at the scene, but that it was not yet known who was behind the attack.

Relatedly, the European Union's foreign policy chief has called the presidents of Serbia and Kosovo to express the EU's condemnation of the killing of Ivanovic and make an appeal for calm.

The morning shooting came as both sides were about to start EU-mediated technical talks in Brussels on improving relations. It was unclear if there was any link between the two.

The EU said in a statement that Federica Mogherini said in her phone calls that the authorities in Kosovo should "spare no effort to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice without delay."

She also called on both sides "to show calm and restraint."

Mogherini last hosted the two presidents for talks last in September, the third such encounter last year. Talks between the two sides at a working group level should have resumed on Tuesday for the first time since the end of 2016.

The tensions in northern Kosovo, which has a large Serbian population, remain high almost a decade after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.

Following the news of the killing, the Serbian delegation has ended talks in Brussels and returned to Belgrade to hold an urgent internal Security Council meeting.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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