SERBIA has placed security troops on the border with Kosovo on a “full state of combat readiness,” Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said on Monday.

The order follows weeks of escalating tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, which Belgrade views as a breakaway province, with some media claiming that Pristina is preparing “an attack” on ethnic Serb areas of northern Kosovo.

The government in Pristina has not commented on the claims or the escalation.

Mr Gasic said on Monday that he had “ordered the full combat readiness” of police and other security units, warning that all measures would be taken “to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo.”

Serbian troops on the Kosovo border have been on alert for some time, but a shooting incident on Sunday evening has served to raise tensions even further.

Officials also allege harassment of Serbs by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008.

Nato-led international peacekeepers said on Monday that they were investigating the shooting in a tense northern region of Kosovo, urging calm as Serbia’s top military officials inspected their troops on the border.

The incident reportedly took place in Zubin Potok, a town where local ethnic Serbs have barricaded roads for the past two weeks.

The peacekeepers said that the incident had happened near one of their patrols. No-one was injured, but they are “working to establish all the facts.”

Kosovo remains a potential flashpoint in the Balkans, years after the 1998-99 war that ended with Nato intervention.

Serbia has never recognised Kosovo’s declaration of independence, while Western efforts to mediate a solution have failed so far.

The peacekeeping mission said in a statement: “We expect all actors to refrain from provocative shows of force and to seek the best solution to ensure the safety and security of all communities.”