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Kosovo border post demolished after attack 'from Serbian side' - media

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A bulldozer demolished a border crossing post in northern Kosovo after it was attacked by a group of unknown people late on Wednesday, Serbian television said.

A bulldozer demolished a border crossing post in northern Kosovo after it was attacked by a group of unknown people late on Wednesday, Serbian television said.

Several dozen attackers approached the Jarine checkpoint from the north (Serbian-controled territory) and set it on fire by throwing Molotov cocktails, the RTS TV channel said. Soon afterwards, a bulldozer arrived at the site and destroyed several buildings engulfed in flames, the channel said.

There have been no reports of victims or injuries.

Earlier on Wednesday, media reports said the Brnyak border crossing post in northern Kosovo was attacked and set on fire by a group of Kosovo Serbs in protest against the brief takeover of the site by special police units of the ethnic Albanian government.

RTS said the reports had not been confirmed.

Serbian Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic and Deputy Foreign Minister Borislav Stefanovic have arrived at the site, RTS said. Peacekeepers of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) are also expected to arrive in a short time.

In an interview with Serbia's B92 TV channel, Bogdanovic said it was not clear who were the attackers, but "they cannot be called anything but criminals and extremists, who don't wish anything good for the Serbian people."

Kosovo sent special police forces to its Serb-dominated north on Monday to enforce a ban on imports from Serbia, but local Serbs opposed the move. Several police and Serbian residents were reportedly injured in clashes and NATO peacekeepers have been deployed to the area to deal with any further violence.

Kosovo officials later said they ordered the withdrawal from the border posts after government customs officers had been installed at the sites.

Kosovo, which unilaterally proclaimed its independence from Serbia in 2008, has been recognized by a total of 76 out of 192 UN member states.

Serbs account for up to 10 percent of Kosovo’s population, making up the biggest non-Albanian community remaining in the breakaway region following the 1998-99 Kosovan war of independence.

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