About 25 NATO peacekeepers were injured in clashes with Serbs protesting against Albanian mayors taking office in Serb majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo KFOR said in a statement.

"While countering the most active fringes of the crowd, several soldiers of the Italian and Hungarian KFOR contingent were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion of incendiary devices," KFOR said.

"The unprovoked attacks on NATO units are unacceptable and KFOR will continue to fulfill its mandate impartially," KFOR Commander Angelo Michele Ristuccia was quoted as saying.