PM Albin Kurti claims ‘victory’ and vows to form government but analysts warn of prolonged crisis and instability

The governing party of the prime minister, Albin Kurti, is on track to secure the most seats in Kosovo’s parliament but will lack the numbers for a majority, the election commission has said.

Sunday’s vote pitted Kurti’s campaign to stamp out the influence of Serbia, more than 15 years after Kosovo declared independence, against the opposition’s vow to boost the economy in one of the poorest corners of Europe.

Pristina labels incident ‘terrorist act’ by neighbouring country, activating armed forces to prevent more attacks

Kosovo’s interior minister, Xhelal Sveçla, said on Saturday that police had arrested eight people after an explosion hit a canal that sends water to its two main power plants, an incident Pristina labelled a “terrorist act” by neighbouring Serbia.

Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, denied what he said were “baseless accusations” about Belgrade’s involvement in the incident, which occurred about 7pm (6pm GMT) on Friday.

Risk of raising tensions after parallel institutions serving Serb minority are declared illegal and shuttered by ethnic Albanian-led government

Kosovo authorities on Friday closed five parallel institutions working with the ethnic Serb minority, a move that was immediately criticised by the US and could further raise tensions with neighbouring Serbia.

Elbert Krasniqi, Kosovo’s minister of local administration, confirmed the closure of five so-called parallel institutions in the north – where most of the ethnic Serb minority lives – writing online that they “violate the Republic of Kosovo’s constitution and laws”.

Milan Radoičić admitted being among paramilitaries who ambushed Kosovan patrol leading to four deaths

Police in Belgrade have arrested a Kosovo Serb politician four days after he admitted being part of a paramilitary group involved in a gunfight with Kosovan security forces in which four people died.

The clash threatened to ignite a wider eruption of violence, after thousands of Serbian troops were deployed to the Kosovo border. They were withdrawn only after the threat of sanctions from the US.

Swift western pressure on Serbia to step back from conflict does not resolve the chronic problems of Kosovo’s nationhood

The signs this weekend suggest that the immediate crisis over Kosovo has been defused. Some Serbian troops are pulling back from the border, and the threat of a return to armed conflict has receded for now.

The Biden administration acted decisively on Friday, drawing on some of the lessons from the run-up to the Ukraine invasion, going public with US intelligence on Serbian troops movements, and calling Belgrade to threaten sanctions and ostracism. The Nato peacekeeping force, Kfor, was immediately reinforced by the transfer of command of a battalion of British troops who were in the region for training.

Incident that left police officer and four attackers dead marks one of gravest escalations in violence for years

Kosovan authorities say they have recovered a large cache of arms after ethnic Serb gunmen stormed a village in the restive north at the weekend, battling police and barricading themselves into a monastery.

“We can easily say that the equipment was destined for several hundred other assailants,” the interior minister, Xhelal Sveçla, said on Monday.