Kosovo authorities on Friday said they had discovered plans to attack senior officials and political leaders, and urged law enforcement forces increase preventive steps.
A statement from the country’s Security Council said that “such groups have planned attacks against some of Kosovo’s institutional and police leaders.”
It gave no details on who the suspects were, only adding they were “working for groups and services of some countries … aiming at destabilizing Kosovo.”
Online media outlet Gazeta Express reported that an Albanian was arrested in Peja, 50 miles west of the capital, Pristina, “on suspicion that he had made calls for a terror attack on the eve of Easter festivities.”
Police in Kosovo and neighboring Albania both said they have increased security measures over the Easter holidays.
They said there would be an increased police presence in churches and other religious places, in the streets and at border crossing points.
Kosovo police called on the population “to respect rights and freedom of all communities as one of the fundamental values of the democratic societies.”
U.S. embassies in both countries urged U.S. citizens “to exercise particular caution,” posting on their websites warnings that “terrorists in the region have previously sought to attack soft targets, to include churches and other places of worship, pedestrian malls, sports arenas, concert halls, and public gatherings.”
Albania and Kosovo are both primarily Muslim countries but Albania in particular has a sizeable Christian minority.
Source: Associated Press