“Central Serbia Under Attack! Terrorist Attack from the Territory of Kosovo: A ‘Fireball’ Was Fired – This Was the Goal,” “Fireball Fired from Kosovo, Central Serbia Under Attack! A Terrorist Attack Is Suspected,” “A Fireball Was Fired from the Territory of Kosovo Toward Central Serbia! Was the Goal to Cause a Fire?!”
These were just some of the headlines published over the past two or three days by pro-government media outlets in Serbia, writes Rks News.
At a time when fake news, disinformation and misinformation have increased across many media outlets and questionable websites, recently several pro-government-oriented media outlets in Serbia have also published unconfirmed information, which has been denied by the Kosovo Police.
Meanwhile, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has stated that Serbian authorities “found” a device with a parachute in the Brnjak area, which pro-government media in Serbia claim was launched from the territory of Kosovo with the aim of starting a fire in Serbia.
According to Serbian media, Vučić said during a visit to Kraljevo that the device is now in the hands of Serbian institutions and that investigations are ongoing.
“We found that device with a parachute. The goal is clear, but the investigation is still ongoing,” Vučić said.
However, the claims that the device was launched from the territory of Kosovo have not been independently confirmed, while the Kosovo Police has denied them.
How did the “fireball” claim begin?
According to the Serbian-language portal in Kosovo, Kossev, the story began on August 23 with the Serbian tabloid Informer, which published an article claiming that an “incendiary device,” which it described as a “fireball,” had been launched from Kosovo toward Central Serbia.
Informer is known for its harsh approach toward Kosovo and its support for the authorities in Serbia.
Informer also published a video, which it claimed showed the device flying toward Serbian territory, as well as a photograph of an object allegedly found in Brnjak.
The claim quickly spread across a number of other Serbian media outlets, including Blic, Alo, Srbija Danas and others. Some of them presented the incident in their headlines as a “terrorist attack” or as a suspected terrorist attack.
The news about the incident and the reactions to it also attracted attention in the media in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
But what did the Kosovo Police say?
The Kosovo Police reacted after the claims spread in Serbian media, describing them as untrue.
In its response, the Police said that no institution of Kosovo had used the weapon or device being described in the media.
“No type of weapon such as the one presented in the media has been used by the authorities of the Republic of Kosovo, and there is no notification from Kosovo Police units that they observed anything of this kind being thrown from the territory of the Republic of Kosovo into the territory of Serbia,” the statement said, reports Rks News.
The Police said the response was issued with the aim of “providing accurate information and preventing the spread of disinformation.”
According to the Police, similar claims from Serbia have also appeared in the past and aim to portray Kosovo before the international community as responsible for negative developments in the border area.
According to the statement, the Border Police continues to patrol and monitor the area, while some patrols are also carried out jointly with KFOR.
