5 Macedonian police killed in clashes with gunmen
At least five police officers in Macedonia have been killed in clashes with unidentified armed men in a northern town near the border with Serbia and Kosovo, officials say.
Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska said late Saturday that more than 30 people were also injured in the clashes in the Diva Naselba neighborhood of Kumanovo City.
Jankulovska added that an unknown number of attackers were also killed in the violence, noting that there were no confirmed reports of civilian casualties.
The minister also said more than 20 of the armed men out of reportedly 70 had surrendered to authorities. However, the police operation is still underway as other attackers have refused to lay down their weapons.
The violence erupted when the terrorists, who had automatic guns and bombs, attacked police during a sweep operation in the district.
According to Jankulovska, the terrorist group had entered Macedonia from an unspecified neighboring country with plans to “use the current political situation to perform attacks on state institutions.”
Albania and Kosovo as well as the European Union (EU) condemned the clashes, while Serbia deployed additional forces to its borders with Macedonia and Kosovo.
Meanwhile, the country’s opposition leader Zoran Zaev released a statement urging conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to hold a public speech to “explain who was destabilizing” the country and for what reasons.
The Balkan country is grappling with its deepest political crisis since it gained independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991.
The Conservative government and the center-left opposition have accused each other of planning to destabilize the country in order to take or keep power. The opposition Vetevendosje party is also demanding an end to police and military suppression of the country’s Albanians, who make up 25 percent of the country’s two million people.
Violence-hit Kumanovo is an ethnically mixed city located some 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of the capital, Skopje. The region was the center of hostilities in 2001 between government forces and ethnic Albanians. The conflict ended six months later with a peace agreement granting more rights to the minority group.
CAH/MKA/HMV
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