Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth said the 2nd Battalion The Rifles had completed its month-long deployment without serious incident.

"During this period the security situation in Kosovo has remained calm. There were no significant incidents of inter-ethnic unrest and a number of key political dates passed peacefully," he said.

The reserve force was despatched to the Balkans to strengthen the Nato-EU peacekeeping mission amid concerns that Kosovo's declaration of independence could trigger violence between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.