Serbia "will know how to protect people, territory"

Serbia "will know how to protect people, territory"

"We cannot allow bandits and crime rings to go on stealing and robbing, carry around automatic weapons and murder members of Serbian security units," Vučić said.

Vučić said that the Gendarmerie member killed on Thursday "wanted to preserve a professional attitude when dealing with terrorists and tried to catch them alive instead of shooting them, and they fired at him from automatic weapons and killed him."

30-year-old Stevan Sinđelić was shot and killed by suspected ethnic Albanian timber thieves.

"Nobody ever asks about the source of so many automatic rifles and whose forces may have leaked them, which is why this incident eventually occurred," the prime minister said and added that there are intelligence information according to which the criminal ring is organized and there are two checkpoints where they undergo trainings.

Addressing local citizens, Vučić said that they can "feel safe and that their safety is guaranteed by Serbian security forces, but at the same time he added that he expects all Serbian citizens to show greater respect for members of the police and Gendarmerie."

Terrorists are conducting organized activities and are interacting with certain bodies in Pristina, the prime minister said.

After visiting the base, Vučić told reporters that the Gendarmerie will get new equipment which would provide better protection for the security forces, and he also announced adoption of new bylaws which aim to ensure the unit's "faster and more efficient response."

Announcing that the bylaws would be prepared in the next 15 days, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović said that his talks with members of the Gendarmerie "covered an analysis of the security situation and safety risks, as well as the circumstances in which Albanian terrorists killed Sinđelić."