Tensions run high in north Kosovo as Serbs block roads

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Shots and explosions rang out overnight in northern Kosovo, and ethnic Serbs have blocked roads with heavy vehicles and trucks. The barricades were set up Sunday, 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, saying Serbs are being harassed there. The tension continues despite the postponement of the Dec. 18 municipal election that the Kosovo Serbs opposed. Serbia and Kosovo are intensifying their exchange of words. Kosovo’s prime minister says his forces will “respond to aggression with all our powers.”