Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti called on NATO to increase its peacekeeping forces in Kosovo after ethnic tensions with Serbia flared up again, DPA reported.

"A significant increase in the number of NATO troops and military equipment in our country would improve security and peace in Kosovo and the entire Western Balkans region," Kurti told the German Welt newspaper.

The NATO-led KFOR force has been tasked with ensuring security in Kosovo since 1999, after the war for the area ended that year.

They consist of nearly 3,800 soldiers from over twenty countries.

Kosovo, which today is populated almost entirely by ethnic Albanians, was once part of Serbia, but declared independence in 2008, which Belgrade still does not recognize. 

Albin Kurti: The barricades in Northern Kosovo will not last long

In recent weeks, Kosovo Serbs have erected barricades in a dozen locations in northern Kosovo and blocked access roads to two border crossings with Serbia.

They were protesting the arrest of a former Kosovo Serb police officer who Kosovo authorities say organized attacks on electoral bodies.

In late December, tensions rose but then eased after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that the barricades would be removed.

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