Oliver Ivanovic

Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic was killed in a brazen drive-by shooting on Jan. 16 that could reignite ethnic tensions in the region.

And Serbia will treat that act accordingly, Vucic told reporters in Belgrade after an extraordinary session of the Council for National Security, convened in the wake of the killing of the Serb politician in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo.

The president also offered condolences to Ivanovic's family, on his own behalf and that of the state and the government.

Marko Djuric said on Tuesday morning that the Belgrade delegation had left technical talks with Pristina in Brussels and was returning to the country.

The head of the Serbian Government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija explained that the reason was the murder earlier in the day of Oliver Ivanovic.

The leder of the GI SDP party, Oliver Ivanovic, died of his injuries on Tuesday, after he was shot in front of his office in Kosovska Mitrovica.

His lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic confirmed this for the website KoSSev.

According to the doctors, the Serb politician was shot five times in the chest before he was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

"I told him so many times to leave (Kosovska) Mitrovica," Ljajic, who seemed genuinely distressed by the news, told RTS, adding that an innocent man has been killed.

"It turns out Ivanovic was safer in jail than free," Ljajic said, and continued: "The only important thing now is to discover who was behind the murder... if anything matters at all any longer."

Oliver Ivanovic, an ethnic Serb political leader in northern Kosovo, has been shot dead in front of his office in the Serb-dominated northern part of the divided city of Mitrovica.

Ivanovic's lawyer, Nebojsa Vlajic, told RFE/RL that Ivanovic died as a result of the shooting on the morning of January 16.

The head of the Serbian Government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija explained that the reason was the murder earlier in the day of Oliver Ivanovic.

"This is a criminal and terrorist act that must be and will be punished," Djuric told reporters in Brussels.

Kosovo Serb leader, Oliver Ivanovic, has been killed in north Kosovo town of Mitrovica. Follow our coverage for the latest developments as they come in.

PHOTO: TANJUG / SAVA RADOVANOVIC

Aleksandar Vucic says the "the Cyprus model" cannot be used to find a solution for Kosovo, "because it means a frozen conflict for the next 100 or 200 years."

The trial of the leader of the Civic Initiative SDP, Oliver Ivanovic, continues today at the Basic Court in Kosovska Mitrovica.

The court previously overturned the first-instance verdict by which Ivanovic was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to have a retrial.