Kosovo police have arrested nine Serbs in the northern town of Zubin Potok on suspicion of war crimes linked to the disappearance of ethnic Albanian intellectuals during the 1998–1999 war.

Police and the Special Prosecutor’s Office said in a joint statement on Sunday that the operation, codenamed “Dossier 23”, was related to the case of the missing intellectuals. No further details were disclosed, including the identities of those arrested.

The arrests follow the excavation in July and August of two newly discovered mass graves in the Serb-majority Zubin Potok area, where the remains of at least 23 people were found.

The remains are believed to include members of the so-called “Group of Intellectuals”: Albanians from Mitrovica, including doctors, professors and human rights activists, who disappeared in April 1999.

Three sets of remains have been identified as belonging to members of the group, authorities confirmed earlier this month.

The police operation was part of a months-long war crimes investigation in the Zubin Potok area following the discovery of the mass graves. Three other suspects from the area had previously been arrested as part of the investigation.

‘The aim was to put additional pressure’

Serbia’s government office for Kosovo condemned the operation, saying “nine Serbs were arrested under the pretext of alleged involvement in a war crime”.

“The aim was to put additional pressure on Zubin Potok, drive out and intimidate the remaining Serbian population,” the statement added.

The 1998–1999 war between independence-seeking ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serbian forces killed around 13,000 people and left around 4,000 missing.

Decades of efforts to locate mass graves have recovered the remains of thousands, but around 1,600 people remain missing.

Efforts to locate those who disappeared during the conflict have been slow, with relations between Belgrade, which does not recognise Kosovo’s independence, and Pristina remaining strained.