Members of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), in coordination with KFOR, have launched a search operation at Ujman Lake, located in northern Kosovo, after a 33-year-old man is believed to have jumped from a bridge two days ago and never resurfaced.
The Acting Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, confirmed that the KSF was deployed to support civilian authorities in the search for the body of the missing diaspora member.
“The Kosovo Security Force, as part of its core tasks, also provides support to civilian authorities. In this context, in cooperation with the Emergency Management Agency, the Kosovo Police, and in coordination with KFOR, specialized KSF teams have begun the search operation in Ujman Lake with the aim of recovering the body as soon as possible and easing the family’s pain,” Maqedonci wrote on Facebook.
The deployment of the KSF in northern Kosovo is only possible with prior approval from NATO’s peacekeeping mission (KFOR), under a commitment made in 2013 by the Government of Kosovo to NATO. This commitment, given in a letter by then-Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi to former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, remains valid today despite changes to the KSF’s mandate.
The missing man, a 33-year-old, is suspected to have jumped from the bridge at Ujman Lake on Sunday afternoon. Ujman Lake is located in Zubin Potok, one of four northern Kosovo municipalities with a Serb majority population.
Until now, Kosovo Police officers, together with members of the Kosovo Association for Search and Rescue, have carried out the search and rescue operations. Following this incident, the Kosovo Police have appealed to citizens not to jump from the bridge into Ujman Lake.
The Kosovo Security Force is currently undergoing a transformation into a full army, a process expected to be completed by 2028.
