NATO soldiers on guard in Kosovo Serb town after clashes

Unrest in the region has intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo’s Serb-majority area after April elections the Serbs boycotted

Dozens of NATO troops secured a municipal building in the Kosovo town of Zvecan on May 30, a day after 30 NATO soldiers and 52 Serb protesters were injured in clashes that EU and NATO officials said were unacceptable as they urged calm.

Kosovo police said in a statement that the situation is "fragile, but calm."

Unrest in the region has intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo's Serb-majority area after April elections the Serbs boycotted, a move that led the U.S. and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday.

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The area's majority Serbs have never accepted Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, and consider Belgrade their capital more than two decades after the Kosovo Albanian uprising against repressive Serbian rule.

Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90% of the population in Kosovo as a whole, but northern Serbs have long demanded the implementation of an EU-brokered 2013 deal for the creation of an association of autonomous municipalities in their area.

Serbs refused to take part in local elections in April and ethnic Albanian candidates won the mayoralties in four Serb-majority municipalities - including North Mitrovica - with a 3.5% turnout.