+- Deep Politics Forum (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora)
+-- Forum: Deep Politics Forum (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/forum-1.html)
+--- Forum: Geopolitical Hotspots (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/forum-20.html)
+--- Thread: 4 killed in Macedonia near Kosovo border (/thread-3747.html)
4 killed in Macedonia near Kosovo border - Magda Hassan - 13-05-2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-05/12/c_13290954.htm
Xinhua News Agency
May 12, 2010
Four people killed in Macedonian shootout
-[T]wo of the killed gunmen appeared to be ethnic Albanians from Macedonia and one from Kosovo, while the origin of the fourth had not been identified yet.
At the end of last month, Macedonian police seized a large quantity of weapons and munitions near a village on Macedonia's border after a shootout, in which a Macedonian soldier was said to have been killed.
SKOPJE: Four people have been killed in a shootout between Macedonian police and an armed group near a northern village, a police source said Wednesday.
Police spokesman Ivo Kotevski said police officers exchanged fire with an armed group near the village of Radusa on Macedonia's border with Kosovo at about three o'clock in the morning.
He said police tried to stop a suspicious van near the village about 10 km north of capital of Skopje. The van refused to stop and the people inside the car started to shoot at police.
Police returned fire and killed four men. A large amount of weapons and explosives were found in the van. No police casualties were reported.
Kotevski said two of the killed gunmen appeared to be ethnic Albanians from Macedonia and one from Kosovo, while the origin of the fourth had not been identified yet.
At the end of last month, Macedonian police seized a large quantity of weapons and munitions near a village on Macedonia's border after a shootout, in which a Macedonian soldier was said to have been killed. The Macedonian government denied the claim.
....
In 2001, tensions...brought the country to the brink of a civil war....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/four-dead-macedonia-kosovo-border-shooting-0
Radio Netherlands
May 12, 2010
Four dead in Macedonia-Kosovo border shootingPublished on 12 May 2010 -
Four people were on Wednesday killed in a shootout with police in a village close to the Macedonia-Kosovo border, police said, in the worst incident since the end of the 2001 conflict in Macedonia.
Police said shooting broke out when they tried to stop a van suspected of transporting illegal arms near the village of Radusa.
"We set an ambush and... people from inside the vehicle opened fire, the police responded and four of them (in the van) were killed," Ivo Kotevski, a spokesman for the Macedonian police, told AFP.
Later on Wednesday Macedonia's interior minister Gordana Jankulovska told a press conference that the police operation was still ongoing in the sensitive border region which is usually a no-go area for the authorities.
The Radusa hamlet is located in the mountainous border area with Kosovo where most of the villages are inhabited by ethnic Albanians.
Three of the dead were identified as a Kosovo and two Macedonian citizens, said the minister. One was wanted on an international arrest warrant.
Jankulovska added that the authorities had also seized four bags of explosives, anti-infantry mines and other weapons.
The men in the van were dressed in black uniforms and Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) insignia was found in the vehicle, she added.
The KLA were separatist ethnic Albanian guerrilla fighters that fought against Serb forces during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
The border region between the two former Yugoslav entities is a notorious smuggling route, and authorities in both countries are trying to stamp out the illegal activity.
....
Two weeks ago Macedonia seized weapons including 20 rocket launchers, three mortars, three anti-aircraft guns, 81 kilos (180 pounds) of plastic explosives and hundreds of grenades and mines in the border area.
n 2001 tensions flared as separatist ethnic Albanian rebels clashed with Macedonian government forces in a conflict that lasted several months.
It ended with a ceasefire deal known as the Ohrid agreement overseen by NATO forces....