Kosovo prime minister’s home attacked
Gunmen trying to break into the home of Kosovo's prime minister Hashim Thaqi in Pristina exchanged fire with security guards, injuring one of the assailants.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, June 09, 2008
Thaqi was away at the time of the attack on Friday, while his wife and son were in the house but were unhurt.
Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuqi condemned the attack as a "direct threat upon the prime minister and his family."
"The fact that someone has tried to hurt the prime minister and his family for whatever reason is not only criminal, it goes beyond any political hatred or impatience," Kuqi said.
Thaqi's private security guards spotted one person trying to break into the two-story house in a suburb of Pristina, police said. They exchanged fire with an unknown number of assailants, who did not manage to get into the house.
The attackers escaped but traces of blood were found, police said, leading authorities to believe one was injured.
Police later said it had arrested a 19-year old involved in the attack.
Kuqi would not comment on who he believed was behind the attack.
Relations between ethnic Albanian political parties in Kosovo have been marked by tension and rivalry.
Thaci is at odds with former rebel commander Ramush Haradinaj, who was recently acquitted by the U.N. tribunal of war crimes charges and has returned to Kosovo to lead his party, now in opposition.
Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo condemned the attack and urged authorities to find the perpetrators.
"Such criminal acts damage the positive image of the state of Kosovo," the party said in a statement.
