Pristina, 11 September 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Prosecutors in Kosovo have indicted 45 Serbs in connection with an attack on police last year near the border to Serbia.

Among the accused is Milan Radoičić, a leading Kosovo Serb politician who is said to have led the terrorist attack, said the head of the special prosecutor's office, Blerim Isufaj, in the capital Pristina.

The incident in September 2023 saw an armed unit of 30 fighters attack Kosovan police in the village of Banjska.

Three Serbian attackers and one policeman were killed, while most of the fighters fled to Serbia.

Radoičić, a close political ally of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, confessed to having led the group days later.

Serbian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the incident, but no action has yet been taken against the attackers.

Kosovan authorities suspect the group wanted to incite an armed uprising among the Kosovo Serb minority in order to forcibly incorporate the region into Serbia.

The overwhelming majority of the population of Kosovo is ethnic Albanian.

The Balkan country seceded from Serbia in 1999 with assistance from NATO and formally declared independence in 2008.

More than 100 countries recognize Kosovo, but Serbia has refused to acknowledge the loss of its former province. Tensions remain high between Pristina and Belgrade.