Dacic told RTS that Hajrizi was in the vicinity of Loznica in western Serbia when “the terrorist“ was discovered with the help of a tip from a local who recognised him from a published picture.

The Interior Minister said he was hiding by the river, looking for a way to cross it.

“When the police came, he shot, the police fired two shots, he started to run. He fired nine bullets. The police liquidated him, he did not have in his agenda to surrender. He is a cruel and inveterate criminal, this is the fifth or sixth murder he committed,” Dacic claimed.

He added that several other people were also arrested. “A married couple of Serbian nationality has been arrested. The husband has already been convicted here, we expect BiH [Bosnia] to transfer him to Serbia. And the man who was driving the Albanian [Hajrizi] lied, and he was also arrested,” said Dacic, who also added that Serbia will ask Germany to extradite his brother.

“The story that his [Hajrizi’s] brother stole his documents is a lie. Why did he come back [to Serbia] if he was in Germany? He [the brother] sent him the documents and he is an accomplice. We will show no mercy to anyone, especially not to Serbs [who were accomplices],” he said.

Earlier on Friday Serbian police said they were looking for Hajrizi on suspicion that he killed Serbian border police officer Nikola Krsmanovic and wounded another on Thursday near Loznica, near the Serbia-Bosnia border.

Police previously arrested two people suspected of having helped the attacker move from the Presevo Valley, in southern Serbia, to the border in the west of the country.

According to Serbian police, two policemen stopped a car near the border with Bosnia and while they were routinely checking it a passenger, who was told to get out, started shooting. He killed Krsmanovic and wounded another officer.

In Kosovo, Hajrizi was known for nine escapes from prisons, with the latest one on July 6, when he benefited from a free weekend pass to not report back to his cell. Two correctional officers were suspended as a consequence.

On Friday, Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had asked the Serbian authorities “to confirm the identity of killed person”.

On Thursday, Harizi’s brother, Artan, told BIRN that Faton had stolen his documents after managing to get to Germany. “I am in Germany and my documents were stolen… by my brother [Faton],“ Artan Hajrizi said. He said he last had contact with his brother “two days ago“.

“He had been in Germany for some two or three hours. It seems he aimed to stole my documents and leave,“ he added.

Asked on Thursday about the shooting, Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said he has no official information. “I have the information that you mentioned, nothing else,” he told journalists. “But our order and security institutions are collecting information so I would ask [you] to follow their communications,” he added.