LONDON — A prominent Serb politician in Kosovo who faced war crimes charges was shot and killed on Tuesday, amid growing tensions between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority.
Oliver Ivanovic, 64, the leader of the Citizens’ Initiative Party, was shot outside the party’s offices in Mitrovica, a northern city that is sharply divided along ethnic lines. A doctor who treated him said Mr. Ivanovic had been shot five times in the upper body.
The police responded by blockading the Serb-majority northern part of the city as they searched for the gunman. The Kosovo government issued a statement condemning the killing, which it said “challenges the rule of law and any attempt to establish order throughout the entire territory of Kosovo.”
President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia called a meeting of his security council, and he was scheduled to address the nation in response to the killing.
Kosovo broke away from Serbia, fighting a war for independence in 1998 and 1999, but Serbia has refused to recognize it as a separate nation. Mr. Ivanovic served for several years as the chief of the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo.
Continue reading the main storyMr. Ivanovic had been considered a moderate among Serb politicians, but in 2014, a special European Union court set up to deal with Kosovo charged him with involvement in the killing of civilians.
He was convicted in 2016 on one count, but an appeals court overturned that verdict last year and ordered a new trial.
In July, his car was set on fire in Mitrovica.
Tensions have escalated in the region as Kosovo prepares to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its declaration of independence. Last week, the State Department warned Americans to exercise caution if traveling to the country, citing an increased threat of terrorism, particularly in Serb-dominated enclaves, including north Mitrovica.
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