STORY: After shots were fired at two Serbs in Kosovo on Friday, police and NATO forces have increased their presence in the village of Shterpce on Saturday. A soldier shot wounded two 11- and 21-year-old Serbs there outside of his duty time, raising concerns that ethnic conflicts could flare up again. The 33-year-old soldier was arrested. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, strongly condemned the act. Some Serbs blocked the main connecting road from Shterpce to the rest of the country after the incident. Only a week ago, a crisis in Serbia and Kosovo was resolved after the arrest of a Serbian police officer. Around 100,000 Serbs live in mostly Albanian Kosovo, half of them in the north. Most of these approximately 50,000 Serbs have refused to recognize the government in Pristina and Kosovo as a state for years. Serbia also does not recognize the independence of the region and describes Kosovo as an autonomous province of Serbia. The conflict has been smoldering for more than 20 years. In 2008, with Western support, Kosovo declared its independence. This was preceded by a war in 1998 and 1999, in which NATO intervened to protect the ethnic Albanian population.