Hundreds of fighters from Kosovo have departed to Iraq and Syria. Dozens of fundamentalist have been arrested and 16 have died. One suicide bomber has blown up himself in Baghdad. One of the ISIS leaders has posted pictures on social networks of beheading of someone’s head. Six years after declaration of independence, Kosovo has turned into a fertile soil for terrorists, writes Italian l’Espresso.
The last one was arrested last week at Tirana’s airport. Mentor Zejnulahu (24), resident of Vitina/Viti, was ready to enter the plane departing to Istanbul, from where he was meant to reach Syria and join jihadists.
Three weeks earlier in an Kosovo police operation 40 persons have been arrested under suspicion of being jihadists, whereas arrest warrants have been released for another 17. The youngest one was born in 1994, while most of them are under 30- years-old.
“It seems that Serbian crimes and Nato bombs are only a distant memory. The new border in the youngest European republic, which declared independence in 2008, seems to be the Islamic radicalism, whereas new enemies are non-believers instead of the Serbian paramilitary formations from the times of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Thus, in the region where Islam has learned to live along with other religions and where it showed its full tolerant side – almost 20 years from the war, which lead to disintegration of the ethnic mosaic set up by Tito, fundamentalism is showing that it has taken deep roots,” writes l’Espresso.
According to paper’s sources at least 20 terrorist cells are actively engaged in recruiting jihadists on the territory of Serbia, Albania, FYR Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and B&H where 16 activists have been arrested recently, including the former Imam of the Islamic Center in Italian town Cremona Bilal Bosnic, who is considered to be one of the leaders in recruiting ISIS members.
Those terrorist cells financed by the Islamic NGOs from Saudi Arabia to England and Turkey, in some cases have been established by the former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters. It is possible that all of it is aimed at shifting the ongoing war in the Middle East to Europe.
In the meantime authorities in Pristina are trying to minimize entire situation. According to a government’s official, only 43 volunteers have departed to Iraq and Syira. It is hard to believe in such information considering that there are already 16 victims from Kosovo amongst those who died.
It is not a coincidence that various sources are mentioning 11.000 foreigners fighting in Syria (amongst whom and 2.000 Europeans) – along with 300-400 Albanians. It is more or less the figure of Brits fighting in Syria, with the huge difference that Kosovo has less than 2 million inhabitants.
Another evidence for it comes from ISIS: the speech which has declared a caliphate has been translated into English, French, Turkish, Russian and Albanian.
Moreover, Kosovo jihadists are giving their own contribution to that war. Blerim Heta , who was born and raised in Germany, but returned to Kosovo after war, has carried out a suicide bombing attack in Baghdad in March killing 52 police officers.
The footage featuring Lavrdim Muhaxheri, who claims to be a commander of ‘Balkan brigade’, where he burnt the Kosovo passport as the ‘document of non-believers’ has cruised the world through internet with the call on his compatriots to join the ‘holy war’. “I am only a Muslim,” said Muhaxheri and posted a footage featuring images of the beheading of a youngster accused to be a spy. A bit later, another footage of a similar crime, recorded by the cell phone and carried out by his compatriot, was also featured on internet.
And that is exactly what is new in this situation: ‘the holy war’ which is ongoing on internet, not only through video footage and calls on ‘jihad’, but young jihadists which have been secretly recruited, presenting their actions through social networks without any reserves.
Exactly this helps intelligence services to discover their real contacts. Anyways, after they return to Kosovo no one can claim their responsibility, since Kosovo still doesn’t have a law against recruitment of terrorists or those who are fighting abroad. A draft law that envisages the imprisonment from five to fifteen years for this category of crimes was not adopted before elections, which were held in June.
Another paradox can be added to this one: Muhaxheri and Heta, used to work in Bondstil, the main US military base in Kosovo under KFOR command with thousands of soldiers. And exactly Uroševac/Ferizaj (where Bondstil is located) close to border with FYR Macedonia, has been transferred into recruitment center with 11 out of 40 jihadists arrested in August, coming from Uroševac/Ferizaj.
It might not be a coincidence that hotel Lion in that town, according to Serbian intelligence service report dated back in 2003, used to shelter the Islamic NGO ‘Relief’ for years, which used to recruit children without parents for carrying out suicide bomb attacks.
“Problem of volunteers is a common problem for all democratic and developed states,” KFOR commander, Italian General Salvatore Farina said recently at a press conference.
Concentration of terrorists in Kosovo is astonishing. Intelligence services were moved with the case of a member of Kosovo Intelligence Service who was killed earlier this year in Syria. “And all of that is taking place in Kosovo where more than five thousand of Nato soldiers are operating,” writes l’Espresso.
