Blast at Kosovo canal feeding key power plants a 'terrorist attack': PM

An explosion on Friday damaged a canal supplying water to Kosovo's two main coal-fired power plants, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said, blaming a "terrorist attack" by neighbouring Serbia.

"This is a criminal and terrorist attack aimed at damaging our critical infrastructure", Kurti told a press conference late Friday.

"The attack was carried out by professionals. We believe it comes from gangs directed by Serbia," he added without providing any evidence.

The blast occurred near the town of Zubin Potok in the country's troubled north, damaging a canal supplying water to cooling systems at two power plants that generate most of Kosovo's electricity.

Kurti gave no details about the extent of the damage, but said if it was not repaired part of Kosovo could be without electricity as soon as Saturday morning.

Pictures from the scene published by local media showed water leaking heavily from one side of the reinforced canal, which runs from the Serb-majority north of Kosovo to the capital Pristina and also supplies drinking water.

-'CRIMINAL ATTACK' -

The United States strongly condemned the "attack on critical infrastructure in Kosovo", the US embassy in Pristina said in a statement on Facebook.

"We are monitoring the situation closely... and have offered our full support to the government of Kosovo to ensure that those responsible for this criminal attack are identified and held accountable."

Animosity between ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the end of the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move that Serbia has refused to acknowledge.

Kurti's government has for months sought to dismantle a parallel system of social services and political offices backed by Belgrade to serve Kosovo's Serbs.

Friday's attack came after a series of violent incidents in northern Kosovo, including the hurling of hand grenades at a municipal building and a police station earlier this week.

AFP has contacted the Serbian government for comment.