Kosovo charges three for canal explosion threatening power plants

PRISTINA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - ⁠Kosovo prosecutors ⁠on ‍Tuesday charged three suspects over an explosion last year at a ‍water canal supplying the country’s two ​main power plants, the state prosecutor’s office said.

The ​suspects allegedly detonated 20 kilograms of TNT at the canal, damaging its concrete structure, cutting off drinking water, ​and disrupting the cooling system for coal-fired power plants, raising fears of ​possible power cuts, it said in a statement.

They were identified ‌only by their initials, J.V., D.V., and I.D., and face charges including ​endangering the constitutional order, ⁠terrorism, and espionage. A source at the prosecutor’s office told Reuters ‌that all three men are ethnic Serbs and had already been arrested.

The prosecutor added that ‌one of the suspects, J.V., works for Serbia's ‌Military Intelligence Service.

Kosovo's government has called the blast a “terrorist attack” orchestrated by Serbia - a claim Belgrade denies. ‍The explosion occurred in Kosovo’s volatile northern region, where most residents ⁠are ethnic Serbs who, like Belgrade, reject Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.

Kosovo police have increased patrols around the canal.

(Reporting by Fatos BytyciEditing by Ros Russell)

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