BioterrorismKosovo’s capital cuts water supplies for fear of ISIS plot to poison reservoir
Kosovo security and health authorities have cut off water supplies to tens of thousands of residents in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, following a suspicion that ISIS followers had poisoned the city’s water supplies. The city’s water board said supply was cut early on Saturday “because of security issues” and that supplies had been tested for suspicious substances. Police sources say that security officers patrolling the Badovac reservoir saw three of the men behaving suspiciously near the reservoir, and arrested them. They were later identified as ISIS supporters. Kosovar members of ISIS recently appeared in propaganda videos, warning of attacks against targets in the Balkans, including the water supplies of major cities.
Kosovo security and health authorities have cut off water supplies to tens of thousands of residents in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, following a suspicion that ISIS followers had poisoned the city’s water supplies.
The city’s water board said supply was cut early on Saturday “because of security issues” and that supplies had been tested for suspicious substances.
The Independent reports that the tests carried out by the Kosovo Institute for National Health had not detected any toxic content in the water.
The worries about the city’s water system emerged after five people linked to ISIS were arrested on Friday. Police sources say that security officers patrolling the Badovac reservoir saw three of the men, whose identities have not yet been disclosed, behaving suspiciously near the reservoir. The reservoir supplies water to about half of Pristina, a city of more than 200,000 people. Two additional suspects were later arrested in a small town a few miles from Pristina.
Kosovo’s security services have been on high alert for several weeks after Kosovan members of ISIS appeared in propaganda videos alongside other ISIS members from other Balkan countries, warning of attacks against targets in the region, including the water supplies of major cities.
“If you can, take poison and put it in their meal or in their drink. Make them die, make them die of poisoning, kill them wherever you are…you can do it,” one man is heard exhorting ISIS supporters.
Last August, Kosovo police arrested more than forty people to prevent them from joining jihadist factions fighting in the civil war in Syria.
Between 100 to 200 Kosovans are believed to be fighting with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, including Lavdrim Muhaxheri, a Kosovar who has risen to a prominent leadership position in ISIS, and who has appeared in several ISIS videos.
