Kosovo police detained eight people as investigators examined an explosion that breached the Iber-Lepenc canal near Zubin Potok in the country’s Serb-majority north. The waterway feeds Kosovo’s two principal power plants and also carries drinking water toward the capital, making damage to it a threat to both electricity production and municipal supplies. No injuries were immediately reported.
Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said authorities had repaired the damaged section, made arrests and seized weapons. Police commander Gazmend Hoxha said investigators believed 15 to 20 kilograms of explosives had been used. Ten locations were searched. Officers reported confiscating six portable rocket launchers, firearms, ammunition and a collection exceeding 200 military uniforms. Police said most of those detained belonged to Civil Protection, a local Serb organization that Kosovo’s government has designated as terrorist. Those assertions represented the authorities’ initial account and had not been tested in court.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government described the canal blast as a terrorist act and blamed Serbia. Belgrade rejected the allegation. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the accusation unfounded, while Foreign Minister Marko Djuric condemned the explosion, requested an international inquiry and offered financial and technical help with repairs. Djuric also suggested, without evidence, that Kurti’s administration might have been responsible. The sharply opposed claims left responsibility unresolved as the investigation continued.
The explosion occurred at about 7 p.m. Friday near Zubin Potok, roughly 16 kilometres from the Serbian border. Images carried by local media showed water pouring through the damaged canal wall. Iber-Lepenci chief Faruk Mujka said an explosive device had damaged a bridge wall and that flows needed to be stopped for urgent work. Kosovo’s prime minister said the incident interrupted supplies to some cities and power facilities.
Police had already tightened security following separate grenade attacks on a police station and a municipal building in northern Kosovo. Officials had not established whether those incidents were connected to the canal attack. The United States embassy condemned the blast and offered support for identifying those responsible. The European Union’s ambassador said the disruption was depriving substantial areas of water. International monitors were watching closely as investigators worked in a politically sensitive and heavily contested setting.
The episode added pressure to relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. Tensions are especially persistent in the north, where many ethnic Serbs maintain political and institutional ties with Belgrade. With essential infrastructure restored only through emergency intervention, the immediate priorities were maintaining water service, safeguarding energy operations and establishing responsibility through evidence.
