40 suspected extremists arrested in Kosovo

PRISTINA - Forty people suspected of having taken part in the fighting in Syria and Iraq and supporting terrorist organisations were arrested by the Kosovo police across the province early on Monday.

The suspects from Pristina, Pec, Gnjilane, Urosevac, Prizren and Kosovska Mitrovica were arrested following an assessment that their activities pose a danger to national security and to protection of constitutional order.

The arrests took place after a total of 60 locations across Kosovo had been searched. They are suspected of having committed crimes against the constitutional order and security in Kosovo.

Evidence that includes explosive devices and weapons has been seized in the police crackdown, the Kosovo police said in a statement, adding that the crackdown is continuing.

Sixteen people from Kosovo have been killed in the fighting in Syria and Iraq, the statement said.

The Kosovo government said in a statement that it supports the police crackdown - undertaken in cooperation with Kosovo's Prosecution Office - and urged the citizens to vigorously oppose any form of extremism.