Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani declared a day of mourning on Monday for the policeman killed in Sunday’s armed clash at the Banjska monastery, Radio TV Kosovo reported.

A statement for the president’s cabinet said that the day of mourning will be observed on Monday in memory of police sergeant Afrim Bunjaku who was killed early on Sunday “on duty and in defense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo”.

Shootout between police and “heavily armed, uniformed” persons in north Kosovo ongoing

Osmani said in an earlier statement that the attack on the police shows “the destablizing power of criminal gangs organized by Serbia”.

“The killing of a policeman and injuring another policeman in northern Kosovo, planned, orchestrated and executed by Serbian criminal gangs, is an attack on order and law in the north of the country, is an attack against Kosovo,” she said and added that this was “open aggression of Serbia towards Kosovo”.

She said that she expects allies to support Kosovo in its effort to establish order and law and preserve sovereignty which, she added, “Serbia is openly challenging”.