The explosion occurred Friday near the town of Zubin Potok in a Serb-dominated area in Kosovo's troubled north, damaging the canal supplying water to cooling systems at two coal-fired power plants that generate most of Kosovo's electricity.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti called a security meeting late Friday, saying: "This is a criminal and terrorist attack aimed at damaging our critical infrastructure".

"The attack was carried out by professionals. We believe it comes from gangs directed by Serbia," he added without providing any evidence.

The government later issued a statement echoing his allegations, saying that "initial indications suggest" the explosion had been "orchestrated by the Serbian state, which has the capacity to carry out such a criminal and terrorist attack".

Kosovo also "approved additional measures to strengthen security around essential infrastructure and services, such as bridges, transformers" and other sites, it said.