Dacic: Killer of policeman fired nine rounds at police before getting shot dead

LOZNICA - Serbian Deputy PM and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on Friday an ethnic Albanian terrorist who had killed one police officer and wounded another in Loznica, western Serbia, on Thursday had been shot dead by police in the nearby Banja Koviljaca area.

Speaking to reporters on the scene, Dacic said that, before getting shot down, the murderer of police officer Nikola Krsmanovic had fired a total of nine rounds at a police search party that had found him.

The runaway killer was reported to police by a resident of the Trbusnice village whom he had asked for water, Dacic said, adding that around 400 police officers had been searching for him in the area.

"He was hiding because the river and the border are here, he was looking for a way to cross the river. When our police came, he fired two shots at a police vehicle, to which the police responded, hitting him with a single shot," Dacic said, adding that the attacker had fired an entire magazine at the police.

He said the attacker had no intention of turning himself in.

"He was a ruthless criminal, and I have been told this was his fifth or sixth murder," Dacic said, noting that police would continue to work on the case and arrest everyone implicated in the murder of the police officer.

He also announced Serbia would request the extradition of the killer's brother from Germany.

"The story that his brother stole his documents is a lie. Why did he return if he was in Germany? He sent him the documents and he is an accomplice. We will have no mercy for anyone," Dacic said.