Religious leaders urge prayer, calm in Kosovo after new violence erupts

(RNS) Religious leaders are calling for calm in Kosovo after clashes between Albanians and Serbs left more than 100 Serbian houses and 16 churches burned and at least 28 people dead.

Violence erupted March 16 after three Albanian boys drowned in a river, allegedly chased by Serbs, who constitute a minority in the former province of Yugoslavia. It is the worst violence in Kosovo since NATO-led airstrikes in 1999.

Serbian Orthodox leaders called on the United States, the United Nations and Russia to “end this pogrom and terror, for the sake of God and for the sake of human dignity.”