Skopje Raid
| Skopje Police Raid | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of 2001 insurgency in Macedonia | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Macedonia |
 NLA | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Ljube Boškoski |
Commander Teli †[5] | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
Unknown |
Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
25 policemen[6] |
10 rebels | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None[7] |
5 rebels killed 5 rebels arrested[8] 30 total detained[9] | ||||||
The Skopje Police Raid was a military operation conducted by the Macedonian police during the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia against ethnic Albanian rebels in a suburb in Skopje, the police successfully neutralized the armed group and captured their weapons supplies. Ethnic Albanian politicians acknowledged the police raid and the deaths but refused to comment. Members of the NLA, and ethnic Albanians claimed the men were civilians.[10]
Background
The police raid was part of an ongoing military conflict between the Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas known as the NLA, the rebels claimed they were fighting for increased civil rights for the country's ethnic Albanian minority while the Macedonian government accused the rebels of trying to split the country on ethnic grounds and detach parts of it's territory.[11]
Raid
The raid took place on August 7, 2001 in the Skopje suburb of Čair at 5:00 AM, the Macedonian police acted on information from an unknown source which claimed that NLA rebels were planning an attack on the capital, and that the rebels were from the nearby town of Aračinovo, the site of the Aračinovo crisis a month prior, after which they were evacuated by NATO forces, during the fighting in Aračinovo the rebels claimed they would attack the capital city of Skopje, including the airport and oil refinery and that they had infiltrated cells ready to attack.[12][13] According to Macedonian interior minister Ljube Boskovski the police tried to arrest the rebels who opened fire on the police, he said they offered strong resistance and the police was forced to return fire. The Macedonian police found a large quantity of weapons, including 6 assault rifles, 5 grenade launchers, 400 rounds of ammunition, 5 pistols, 3 grenades and combat uniforms. Members of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian community confirmed the deaths in the police raid but refused to comment.[14][15][16]
Aftermath
The following day the NLA attacked a Macedonian army convoy near Tetovo in what would become the Karpalak Ambush, supposedly as retaliation for the 5 Albanians killed by the police in the raid, the NLA claimed the men were civilians.[17]
See also
References
- ^ "Macedonia rebels killed in raid". CNN.
SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Five ethnic Albanian rebels have been killed in a police raid to seize illegal weapons, Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski has said.
- ^ "Macedonia Police Kill Five Rebels in Skopje". tehrantimes. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
SKOPJE -- Macedonian police killed five alleged ethnic Albanian rebels in a raid on a house in Skopje on Tuesday in a new blow to hopes of a peaceful end to a five-month guerrilla rebellion. "A terrorist group was preparing an attack on Skopje and the police carried out an operation early this morning," Minister Ljube Boskovski told Reuters.
- ^ "Macedonian Police Kill 5 Albanian Rebels". NY Times. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
Police officers killed five Macedonian Albanian rebels today and seized illegal weapons in a raid that the interior minister said was intended to avert an attack on the capital, Skopje.
- ^ "Macedonia Police Kill Five Rebels in Skopje". tehrantimes. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
an AFP report said police in Skopje killed five albanians overnight and seized a van full of weapons in an operation seen as jeopardizing peace talks set to resume here Tuesday.
- ^ "Macedonia rebels killed in raid". CNN.
Police returned fire, and among those killed in the raid in the suburb of Cair was a commander of the National Liberation Army known as "Teli," Boskovski said.
- ^ "Macedonia rebels killed in raid". CNN. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
Ethnic Albanians in the predominantly Albanian quarter of Skopje told Reuters about 25 police arrived around 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) and beat Albanians coming out of early morning prayers in a mosque.
- ^ RUBIN, ALISSA J. RUBIN. "Macedonian Police Kill 5 Separatists in Raid". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
There were no police injuries reported in the incident, the first of its kind in Skopje since the current conflict erupted in February.
- ^ "Macedonia Police Kill Five Rebels in Skopje". tehrantimes. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
Five people are killed, five are detained.
- ^ "Macedonia rebels killed in raid". CNN. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
A total of 30 people had been arrested in the police crackdown, Boskovski said.
- ^ Krott, Rob. "Macedonia's Weaponry: A New Nation Re-Arms and Fights". The Smalls Arms Review. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
She claimed the five men (who she of course did not know) were not Albanian terrorists. I wondered how these completely innocent men came to be in possession of a large arms cache. The raid made the front page of the Macedonian papers and in a photo of the contraband captured in the raid I counted at least six assault rifles, one scoped folding stock assault rifle, several loaded magazines, camouflage uniforms, and a large pile of ammo bandoliers for the South African Armscorp 40mm grenade launcher
- ^ Carroll, Rory. "Albanian rebels told to flee or die". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
The rebels say they are fighting for more rights for the ethnic Albanian community in Macedonia. But Macedonia says they are separatists seeking to unite with mainly Albanian Kosovo, from where most of their supplies come.
- ^ "Macedonian Albanian guerillas threaten to attack cities..." Reliefweb. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
Commander Drin Korabi of the National Liberation Army (UCK) told dpa on 26 June that the protests "showed that Macedonians and the Macedonian government want a civil war with the Albanians." He added: "We warn them that our fighters will enter not only Skopje, but Kumanovo and other towns as well, if they continue avoiding dialogue with Albanians." His last point presumably refers to the authorities' refusal to negotiate with the UCK. Korabi said that the UCK has underground fighters in Skopje "waiting for a signal to act." He added that "we have the ability to take more territories under our control" if no political settlement is reached. PM
- ^ "Macedonian government launches new attack on rebels". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
On Sunday, a rebel leader known as Commander Hoxha said that they would attack "the airport, oil refineries, police stations in towns and other government installations," if the government targeted rebel forces in the north or in Aracinovo, a town just a few miles southeast of Skopje taken by the insurgents on Saturday.
- ^ "5 Killed by Macedonian Police in Skopje - 2001-08-08". Voice of America. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
A house and a mosque were raided in the action in a predominantly ethnic Albanian neighborhood on the north side of Skopje. Mr. Boskovski said the dawn raid was prompted by information that a terrorist group was preparing an attack on the capital.
- ^ "Macedonia rebels killed in raid". CNN. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
The deaths were confirmed by ethnic Albanians, but no further comment was available. The government later put on display the hoards of weapons it said police had captured in the raid on the one-storey house. The collection included six assault rifles, five grenade launchers with about 400 rounds, five pistols, three grenades and combat uniforms.
- ^ "Macedonian Police Kill 5 Albanian Rebels".
Describing the clash today with Albanian rebels in Cair, a suburb of Skopje, Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski said: The group was planning terrorist activities in Skopje. We tried to arrest them, but during the operation we encountered strong armed resistance.The police returned fire, and among those killed was a rebel commander known as Teli, Mr. Boskovski said. The deaths were confirmed by Macedonian Albanian officials.
- ^ "Macedonia battle rages". CNN. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
The rebels were apparently responding to the killings by Macedonian troops of five alleged rebels in Skopje on Tuesday. The rebels said they were civilians.