TIRANA, June 14 – Kosovo prosecutors have filed terrorism charges against nine people who were working on attacks to “frighten the population and destabilize Balkan states to create an Islamic State in the region.”
Kosovo’s Special Prosecutor’s Office said Kosovo-born terrorist and ISIS commander Lavdrim Muhaxheri had ordered an attack on a football match to be held in Shkodra between Albania and Israel in November last year.
The attack was foiled thanks to cooperation among security officials in Albania, Kosovo and Israel who intercepted communications between terrorists in Syria and the Balkans.
Police found explosives and guns in the raids of the those accused, among which at least one had been to Syria in 2013.
Muhaxheri, the leader of Albanian-speaking fighters of ISIS has been killed in Syria, Albanian media reported last week, citing a posting by the violent jihadist’s brother on social media.
Also known as Abu Abdullah Al-Kosova, Mujaxheri has long been considered as one of the key leaders in the terrorist group, ISIS, after he rose through the ranks to lead a group of fighters from the Balkans who had traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight for the violent jihadist group. In propaganda videos he had declared himself the “commander of Albanians in Syria and Iraq.”
Kosovo police said in a statement it could not confirm the death for sure.
Muhaxheri first gained notoriety after posting a picture of himself with the severed head of another man on social media. He had earlier led a group of Albanian-speaking fighters in an ISIS propaganda film showing them tearing up their passports issued by Kosovo and Albania back in 2014. Muhaxheri and his followers had also issued several threats against Kosovo and Albania, calling for terrorist attacks on the two countries.
According to his media profile, Muhaxheri started to become radicalized around 2012 in his Kosovo hometown of Kacanik and the same year was reported to have made his first trip to Syria as a fighter. In 2013, he took a command position within ISIS, and was considered a recruiter of Kosovo Albanians, as well inspiring others in Macedonia and Albania.
At its peak in 2014, as many as 400 ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and the Preshevo Valley in southern Serbia were believed to fight along the ranks of the rebels in the civil war in Syria, with many having been killed in action. They were part of thousands of foreigners who had joined the rebels in Syria. Most of these ethnic Albanian fighters came from Kosovo, to be followed by Albania, Macedonia and the Preshevo Valley.
Countries in the Balkans have increased their efforts to prevent the recruitment of fighters for foreign wars following reports that hundreds of people from the region have been fighting with groups in Syria, including ISIS
