Macedonia said yesterday its police had wiped out a group of ethnic Albanian veterans of insurgencies in ex-Yugoslavia in a day-long gun battle that left at least 22 dead and deepened fears of instability following months of political crisis.
The government said eight police and 14 members of an “armed group” were killed after police staged a raid in an ethnic Albanian area before dawn on Saturday seeking gunmen from outside Macedonia it said were planning to attack civilian and state targets.
It said 37 officers were wounded in the fighting, which recalled clashes in 2001 between government forces of the Macedonian Slav majority and guerrillas from the ethnic Albanian minority.
Authorities said the death toll could still rise.
“The terrorist group is completely neutralised and eliminated,” Interior Ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski told a news conference. He said the gunmen were again led by ethnic Albanian former rebel commanders from Kosovo, which broke away from Serbia in war in 1999.
More than 30 people were arrested and some of them taken before a judge in the capital Skopje. The scene of the fighting, an ethnic Albanian suburb of Kumanovo some 40 km north of Skopje, remained locked down, off-limits to residents and reporters.
The terrorist group is completely neutralised and eliminated
Sporadic gunfire could still be heard yesterday as trucks towed away several lightly-damaged armoured vehicles. Kotevski said no civilians were reported killed. Many had fled, carrying their belongings.
The government declared two days of national mourning and President Gjorge Ivanov convened the national security council, inviting leaders of the opposition and the main ethnic Albanian parties in a gesture of unity.
The events will deepen concern in the West over stability in Macedonia, where the government is on the ropes over allegations by Opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev of illegal wire-tapping and widespread abuse of office.
Protesters demanding the resignation of conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski clashed with police last week and the Opposition is threatening to rally thousands on May 17. Western states are pressing Gruevski to investigate the allegations against his government, which he says have been concocted by foreign spies.
One of the dead police officers was buried yesterday in the western town of Tetovo, where ethnic Albanians are in the majority. His coffin was draped in the Macedonian flag.
Albanians in Kumanovo were deeply sceptical of the official version of Saturday’s events. An estimated 30 per cent of Macedonia’s two million people are ethnic Albanians. Western diplomacy ended the 2001 conflict with a peace deal offering the Albanian minority greater rights and representation. The insurgents entered government and Macedonia was promised integration with the EU and Nato, but progress has been blocked by a long-running dispute with Greece over Macedonia’s name.
Many citizens, regardless of ethnicity, are frustrated at the slow pace of development and integration with the West.