Kosovo opposition MP arrested over parliament violencePristina, 18 November 2015 (MIA) - Kosovo police used tear gas to disperse opposition supporters gathered Wednesday to protest the arrest of a lawmaker who took part in violence inside parliament trying to force the government to renounce recent deals, AP reports.
Donika Kadaj-Bujupi was arrested Wednesday and arrest warrants were issued for three of her colleagues in the opposition group that has disrupted parliament over the past two months with tear gas and pepper spray, whistles and water bottles. They want the government to withdraw from a deal with Serbia giving more powers to ethnic-Serb communities and from one with Montenegro on border demarcation.
Police say the three lawmakers were not found at their homes. Media showed a picture of at least one of them, Albin Kurti of the Self-Determination Movement Party, present at the protest accompanied by his supporters.
Scores of opposition supporters gathered in front of the government headquarters in downtown Pristina, throwing stones and paint against the building. Police responded with tear gas.
Thirteen protesters were arrested and four policemen were injured, said a police statement, adding that many public buildings and other properties were damaged.
Media reported some protesters, including a 6-year old, asked for medical assistance.
Police also searched the houses of two other lawmakers who were not there.
The opposition has said no more parliament sessions will be allowed unless the deals are renounced. The government accuses them of trying to come to power by force.
Kosovo in 2008 declared independence from Serbia, but that is not recognized by Belgrade. The two sides are holding EU-led talks to overcome their differences. lk/17:37
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Sarajevo gunman commits suicide after killing two soldiers
Sarajevo, 19 November 2015 (MIA) - A gunman who shot and killed two Bosnian soldiers and wounded another committed suicide on Wednesday after police surrounded his house on the outskirts of Sarajevo, authorities said, Reuters reports.
The attacker, identified as Enes Omeragic, opened fire with an automatic weapon at a betting shop near the army barracks in the Rajlovac neighbourhood of the capital, killing two Bosnian armed forces servicemen.
While fleeing the scene, he also fired at a city bus wounding a third soldier. The bus driver and two passengers were injured by broken glass, a Sarajevo police spokesman said.
"A shot fired at a member of the armed forces is a shot at Bosnia-Herzegovina," said Denis Zvizdic, the Balkan country's prime minister, after an emergency government meeting.
"Security will be raised at the top level to prevent such incidents in the future," Zvizdic said, adding that the gunman's motives were unknown but part of an official investigation.
After the shooting, police surrounded the nearby home of the suspect. After hearing a detonation, they then discovered his body, Sarajevo police commissioner Vahid Cosic said.
Omeragic's neighbours said he had recently become an adherent of the ultra-conservative Salafi Muslim movement. ik/08:23
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UNHCR: Serbia, Macedonia limit migrant passage
Belgrade, 19 November 2015 (MIA) - Serbia and Macedonia have begun limiting the passage of migrants across their borders to Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, UNHCR Office in Belgrade stated on Thursday, Tanjug reports.
Melita Sunjic, UNHCR spokesperson, stated that migrants from other countries have been turned back and that some 100 remained stranded in no-man's land.
Macedonia closed the border around 3 a.m and some 100 people remained stranded in no-man's land, Sunjic said.
As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, Serbia started turning back to Macedonia all but Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, she said. sk/11:29
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State prosecutors take over investigation into Sarajevo killings
Sarajevo, 19 November 2015 (MIA) - The investigation into the killing of two members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's army has been taken over by the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor because there are indications that the case could be related to terrorism, Boris Grubesic of the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor said in Sarajevo on Thursday, Hina reports.
The Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, which prosecutes the most severe criminal cases, has taken over the case from the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office which started investigating the crime immediately after it was committed on Wednesday night.
The attacker, identified as 34-year-old Enes Omeragic, burst into a betting booth in Sarajevo's suburb of Rajlovac and opened fire from a machine-gun, killing soldiers Armin Salkic, aged 26, and Nedeljko Radic, aged 34, who were there.
The attacker then fled the scene but the police located him in a house in the nearby neighbourhood of Sokolje where he lived and surrounded the house. Faced with his inevitable arrest, Omeragic committed suicide by activating a bomb.
The attacker's motives are still being speculated about, and among the many reports is one saying that he had lately become close to radical Islamists and his attack is believed to be an act of terrorism.
The Office of the Chief State Prosecutor is being assisted in the investigation by the State Agency for Investigation and Protection (SIPA), whose spokeswoman Kristina Jozic confirmed that investigators were focused on the possible terrorist nature of the attack.
"The attack on the two soldiers at Rajlovac has elements of a terrorist act," she said.
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