Nato sends 700 more troops to Kosovo to help quell violent protests

KFOR soldiers, front, and Kosovo police officers guard a municipal building after clashes between ethnic Serbs and troops from the Nato-led KFOR peacekeeping force, in the town of Zvecan, northern Kosovo (Dejan Simicevic/AP/PA)

Nato has sent 700 more troops to Kosovo to help quell violent protests and has put another battalion on standby in case the riots spread, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

“We have decided to deploy 700 more troops from the operational reserve force for Western Balkans and to put an additional battalion of reserve forces on high readiness so they can also be deployed if needed. These are prudent steps,” Mr Stoltenberg told reporters in Oslo, after talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.