11 Aug 14

After police on Monday arrested 40 suspected Islamist militants who they believe have participating in the fighting in Iraq and in Syria, the President said Kosovo will not allow itself to become a source of terrorism and instability.

Nektar Zogjani
BIRN
Pristina

The President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, on Monday praised the country's police for rounding up 40 suspected Islamist militants, saying that “Kosovo will not be a shelter for extremism.”

“We will never allow our country to become a source of criminal and terrorist acts that threaten peace and stability,” she said.

Police suspect that the 40 persons they arrested earlier on Monday are members of ISIS, or IS, as it is now known - the militant Islamist organisation fighting to establish a Sunni Caliphate in the Middle East, and against which the US recently launched air strikes to halt its advance into the Kurdish region of northwest Iraq.

"The operation was conducted after evaluating the danger and importance [of the suspects] for national security," police said.

According to the police, around 60 houses were searched during operations that took place in different towns and cities, including the capital, Prishtina, Ferizaj, Gjilan, Prizren, Mitrovica, and Peja.

Kosovo Police said they also confiscated arms and explosives as material evidence.

A number of Muslim Albanians from the Balkans have joined the sectarian conflict in Iraq and Syria.

In a press release, the police said that 16 Kosovars had died in fighting in Syria and Iraq so far. On Sunday, it was reported that 18-year-old Patriot Matoshi, from Kosovo, had been killed in the conflict in Syria.

The International Center for the Study of Radicalization, ISRA, a think tank based in King's College, London, believes that some 300 Albanian fighters, from Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, have joined militant groups in Syria, including Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State, or IS.

Recently, Lavdrim Muhaxheri, a Kosovo Albanian who went to fight in Iraq and Syria, made headlines when pictures were published showed him allegedly beheading a young soldier in Syria.

Kosovo Police said they were committed to fight all those who “choose to join suspected terrorist groups operating in Iraq and Syria.

"Based on its mandate, the Kosovo Police will take all the measures to prevent and fight every form of violent extremism and the inclusion of citizens in criminal activities of terrorist groups operating in Kosovo or abroad,” reads the press release.

“The police will fight everyone who supports, finances, recruits, and incites national, religious, or racial hatred,” the press release added.