Serbia-Kosovo talks halted after politician’s killing

The talks between Serbia and Kosovo at the European Union have been suspended after the killing of Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic.

The 28-nation EU said it “strongly condemns the murder” and it expects authorities “to spare no effort to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said the EU calls on all sides “to show calm and restraint.”

Talks between the two should have resumed on a technical level on Tuesday after they stopped in March last year when Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, then leader of the opposition Kosovo Future Alliance party, was detained in France pending a court deci- sion whether he would be extradited to Serbia. He was released the following month.

Serbian state television says the country’s delegation walked out of an EU-mediated dialogue with Kosovo leaders after the killing of Ivanovic.

The report said Tuesday that the Serbian team is on its way back to Belgrade from Brussels.

The killing is likely to heighten tensions in Kosovo amid attempts to normalize ties between the former foes.

Doctors say Ivanovic received at least five gunshot wounds to his upper torso when shot by unknown assailants.

Milan Ivanovic, the head of Mitrovica hospital and who is not related to the politician, said Tuesday that doctors at- tempted to save Ivanovic but could do nothing.

Unknown assailants opened fire on Ivanovic outside the offices of his political party.

Marko Djuric, the Serbian government’s official dealing with Kosovo, said Tuesday that “whoever is behind this attack ... whether they are Serb, Albanian or any other criminals, they must be punished.”

He described the killing as a “criminal act of terror” aimed at pushing the volatile region into chaos.

Djuric adds that the attack earlier Tuesday on Ivanovic in Mitrovica “is an attempt to push the Serbian people into chaos, to push Serbia into chaos.”

Kosovo remains tense, a decade after declaring independence from Serbia in 2008.

Serbia does not recognize the split and EU-mediated talks have been underway in a bid to normalize ties.

About 10,000 people died in the 1998-99 war between Serb forces and Kosovo ethnic Albanian rebels.