KOSOVO-POLICE/DRILL Kosovo's elite police units train to handle urban attacks and riots

Record ID: 146114

  • Title: KOSOVO-POLICE/DRILL Kosovo's elite police units train to handle urban attacks and riots
  • Date: 21st July 2015
  • Summary: NEAR PRISTINA, KOSOVO (JULY 21, 2015) (REUTERS) KOSOVO SPECIAL POLICE LINED UP FOR INSPECTION / KOSOVO MINISTER OF INTERIOR, SKENDER HYSENI, INSPECTING THEM VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS AND THEIR WEAPONS SPECIAL POLICE COMMANDER EXPLAINING THE DRILL TO HYSENI HYSENI VARIOUS MAP OF THE DRILL/OFFICER EXPLAINING (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO MINISTER OF INTERIOR, SKENDER HYSENI
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kosovo
  • Country: Kosovo
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA811TXFG1CRH8E8GGTOMLHBHHS
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Kosovo Minister of Interior, Skender Hyseni, visited on Tuesday (July 21) a police special forces exercise aimed at handling violent riots and clearing buildings.
    The exercise comes at a time of heightened alert for security forces in the Balkan country, which fears attacks by militant Islamists.
    Last week, water supplies to almost half of Kosovo's capital Pristina were turned off after police arrested five people suspected of attempting to poison the city's main reservoir.
    "We live in the time of gruesome terrorist acts which are happening in different parts of the world and Europe. Therefore, I say this in front of you that the Republic of Kosovo cannot be completely immune from this evil," Hyseni said after watching the drill near a NATO airport in Kosovo. He added that at the moment, there are no indications that an attack could occur.
    Kosovo has been on a heightened state of alert in recent weeks after Islamic State members from Kosovo appeared in propaganda videos alongside other members from the Balkans warning of attacks against targets, including water supplies.
    Security officials say more than 200 people from Kosovo have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq. More than 30 are believed to have been killed and there are concerns over the potential threat posed by those who return.
    A majority of Kosovo's 1.8 million people are Muslim but overwhelmingly secular.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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