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Kosovo cuts water supplies after ISIS poison plot
Authorities shut off supplies to tens of thousands of people and test water for suspicious substances after five people allegedly linked to Islamic State arrested.
Authorities in Kosovo have cut off water supplies to tens of thousands of people in the capital Pristina after an alleged plot by supporters linked to Islamic State to poison a reservoir.
Pristina’s water authority said the water supply was shut off early on Saturday “because of security issues,” and that samples were being tested for suspicious substances. Al Jazeera reported that the tests carried out by the Kosovo Institute for National Health had detected no sign of toxic content.
The move follows the arrest of five suspects linked to Islamic State, who were accused of planning to poison a reservoir, Reuters reported.
Police say officers patrolling the Badovac reservoir saw three of the men, whose identities have not been revealed, behaving suspiciously. The reservoir supplies almost half of Pristina, a city of more than 200,000 people. Another two suspects were arrested elsewhere in Kosovo.
All face terrorism charges, police said, without giving further details.
A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that two of the suspects had been arrested last year on suspicion of traveling to Syria.
Kosovo has been on a heightened state of alert in recent weeks after Kosovan members of ISIL appeared in propaganda videos alongside other members from the Balkans warning of attacks against targets including water supplies.
"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 imploring ISIL supporters.
Kosovo arrested more than 40 people in August last year to prevent them from joining factions fighting in the civil war in Syria.
Security officials say more than 200 people from Kosovo have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq, including prominent member Lavdrim Muhaxheri, who has appeared in a number of ISIL videos. More than 30 are believed to have been killed. There are concerns over the potential threat posed by those who return.
