North Kosovo tense amid overnight explosions, Serbs blocking roads

Tensions were high in northern Kosovo on Sunday, with Serbs blocking roads as shots and explosions rang out overnight, Kosovo police and media reported Sunday. No injuries were reported.

The blocking of the roads with heavy vehicles and trucks happened a day after the Serbian president said he would ask the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo to permit the deployment of 1,000 Serb troops in the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, claiming they are being harassed there.

The road blocks, which Serbs say were erected to protest recent arrest of a former Kosovo Serb police officer, came despite the postponement of the Dec. 18 municipal election the Kosovo Serbs were opposed to.

Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday that his message to the Serbs in Kosovo is that there is no surrender and there will be no surrender. He claimed the Serbs had been forced to erect the road barricades to protect themselves from Kosovo security forces.

The European Union rule of law mission, known as