An armed group of some 30 wahhabists, Muslim fundamentalists, have been patrolling the Bosniak mahala, a settlement with mixed population in the centre of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Armed with guns, they patrol the streets at night and ID Serbs from the Bosniak mahala, right next to the Kosovo police and KFOR soldiers, the Kurir Serbian daily writes.

Wahhabists recruit heroin addicts who were treated in mosques in the Southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. The group leader is Ekrem Avdiju, commander of the Abu Bekri Sidik group and the most influential wahhabist in the Balkans. They receive funs from the Curuma organisation, which acts in Kosovo and is based in Pakistan.

The residents of the Bosniak mahala are convinced that the wahhabists are planning to persecute Serbs from the settlement, as well as from the entire Kosovska Mitrovica and that Belgrade and New York have been informed of this. One local said that, apart from patrolling with KFOR, they wear the TMK signs, which represents the former Kosovo security corps.

Serbs believe a nig conspiracy against them is in question, because Albanian police patrols the Bosniak mahala, which does not have any authorisations to enter Northern parts, but the KFOR lets them pass on the bridge. They also believe that the wahhabists want to be organised in a political party with time.