Albanian terrorists occupy villages in FYROM

[Sergius]

Where?

[Crvena zvezda]

These are more recent events in FYROM:

Eight Albanians dead in clash with FYROM police
7 November 2007 | 13:05 -> 16:38 | Source: Tanjug
SKOPJE -- At least eight members of an armed Alabanian group were killed Wednesday in a clash with FYROM police.

The group was thought to be headed by Ramadan nutsij and Lirim Jakupi, a.k.a. Nazi, who escaped from Dubrava prison in Kosovo a few months ago.

The showdown took place in the villages of Brodec, Vesala and Vejce, near Tetovo, spokesman of the FYROM Police Ivo Kotevski stated.

All police officers who took part in the operation escaped unharmed, it was also confirmed.

"The criminal group has been defeated," said Kotevski, adding that the police units are still in the increasingly volatile area, MIA news agency reported.

Five people were arrested, among them Habit Ahmeti, one of the leaders of the group FYROM says is criminal. Heavy weapons and ammunition were also confiscated.

Police will now process the scene, and will later allow reporters to access the area.

Meanwhile, KFOR has increased its troop level on the Kosovo side of the border since the start of the FYROM MUP operation early this morning.

The issue of a FYROM helicopter allegedly shot down during the clashes remains unclear. While authorities in Skopje deny the reports, KFOR claims that a helicopter did go down in the area, but that it does not belong to the NATO forces in the province.

Security services claim that the Jakupi group was allowed to escape from prison with the help of "certain structures", in order to destabilize the region "should the Kosovo negotiations go in a direction these structures do not favor."

Jakupi is wanted in FYROM for launching a rocket at a police station, killing a cab driver, and wounding three officers, as well as for putting the village of Volkovo under siege and threatening to "bomb Skopje".

Albanian group claims responsibility for Tetovo clashes
8 November 2007 | 12:13 -> 14:00 | Source: B92, Tanjug
TETOVO -- Ethnic Albanian para-militaries have claimed responsibility for yesterday’s clashes in FYROM.

A group, calling itself the Political-Military Council of the KLA says it was behind yesterday's armed clash with FYROM police forces which left at least six dead according to information available so far.

In a statement, the organization claims that its members, formerly of the “Albanian Territorial Liberation Army“, had been "forced to assemble a regular military unit in order to protect the endangered Albanian people, and every inch of Albanian territory.“

Organization members viewed yesterday’s skirmish near Tetovo as a “defense of national honor,“ while calling the FYROM police attack “an attack by Macedonian-Slav authorities on the Albanian people.“

“We consider all Slav-Albanian agreements emanating from the wars in Kosovo and Albanian territory, as well as the participants, null and void,“ it is stated in the first statement of the Tetovo-based organization, that was published on the internet.

In the statement, they stress that “there can be no stable political or military solution, peace or stability in the turbulent Balkans without respect and implementation of a decision taken at a conference in Bujan for self-determination (Kosovo, and unification with Albania), and for institution of a military oath for all three liberation armies – Kosovo, Eastern Kosovo (Preševo, Bujanovac, Medveða), and FYROM.“

The Macedonian authorities were yesterday eager to stress the police clashed with a criminal gang operating in the area.

This Thursday, the situation in the Tetovo region village, the scene of Wednesday's battle, is calm.

Police are still present in the area, the Macedonian news agency MIA reported.

According to the findings of the Macedonian Interior Ministry, six members of the armed criminal group were killed on the occasion, 13 were detained and one policeman was injured. No civilians were harmed.

FYROM fears ANA on its territory
31 October 2007 | 15:53 | Source: B92, Tanjug
SKOPJE -- Masked gunmen checking vehicles have appeared in northern FYROM, reports say.

Armed persons wearing uniforms without any insignia have been stopping vehicles and checking passengers in the region of the villages of Brodec, Bozovce and Sipkovica, in the municipality of Tetovo in northern FYROM, for the past two nights, Albanian language media in Skopje reported on Wednesday.

An unidentified representative of the FYROM Interior Ministry confirmed Wednesday that the ministry was informed by citizens about the presence of persons in uniforms on the Tetovo-Jazince road, adding that the authorities in Skopje are "concerned" over the development.

Due to the appearance of armed persons, suspected by media of being members of the Albanian National Army (ANA), police forces and OSCE observers have been stationed in the area of the Tetovo Malesija.

ANA is an armed group gathering ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, which the UN administration in that province designated terrorist.

In late September, President Boris Tadiæ warned during a UN General Assembly session in New York, that Belgrade had information about terrorist activity in that area of FYROM.

Armed Groups Patrol FYROM
31 10 2007 Skopje, Tetovo_ Groups of men in black, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, have been patrolling north–western FYROM, stopping cars and asking people for IDs, witnesses have told Balkan Insight.


People from the Tetovo area, who have asked not to be identified, have told Balkan Insight, that patrols have been questioning people near Dobroste, on the Poroj-Jazince road, north of Tetovo.

Kanal 5 TV also reported on Tuesday that two groups of three or four armed men had been stopping passengers on the same road.

Witnesses told Balkan Insight the men had been first spotted when they started patrolling the road to Brodec and Sipkovica - a stronghold of ethnic Albanian guerrillas during the 2001 insurgency – a few weeks ago.

They would stop cars, ask for travellers’ identity cards, search their vehicles – allegedly for weapons – and then tell them to avoid the road in the evening.

Police have dismissed reports that any armed groups are operating in FYROM, and have said that some of the patrols reported on the Poroj–Jazince road were, in fact, conducted by special police forces in civilian clothes.

On Saturday, five workers from FYROMs main electricity supplier, ESM-EVN, were kidnapped and held for several hours by an unidentified armed group, in the vicinity of Sipkovica village.

Police spokesman Ivo Kotevski has confirmed that the workers reported the case but said, “the incident is still under investigation”.

The reports of unidentified armed men appeared shortly before a police officer was killed when his patrol came under attack on October 24 near the mountain village of Tanusevci, at the border with Kosovo, where the conflict had first started back in 2001.

Parliament held an emergency session to discuss the incident and Interior Minister, Gordana Jankulovska said a group of criminals and smugglers were suspected to have been behind the incident. To read more, see BIRN

The presence of the paramilitary Albanian National Army, ANA, in neighbouring Kosovo has sparked fears of a potential spillover of violence into FYROM.

However, ANA has denied reports it was involved in the Tanusevci attack, and blamed the Serbian radical group, Tsar Lazar, for the attack.

Although apart from the killing of the police officer there have not been any major incidents, the latest sightings of armed men have increased fears of that there may be more trouble ahead.

Security expert Biljana Vankovska says that the lack of accurate information about the armed groups and the authorities’ uncoordinated actions have added to existing concerns.

“I don`t believe that 2001 will be repeated, but I am afraid this situation gives fertile ground for creating a perception that FYROM might be destabilized, playing into the hands of those who want Macedonia seen as a potential problem,” Vankovska told Balkan Insight.

Meanwhile, locals in Tetovo seem increasingly concerned about the latest developments. “It is visible that people are increasingly staying away from the streets in the evenings as very few seem to be comfortable walking around,” one young woman told Balkan Insight.

FYROMs security council, made up of the country’s leaders and top officials, was set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the security situation.

Attack on FYROM police near kosovo in village of Tanusevci.

Makedonija: Napad na policajce
24. oktobar 2007. | 16:53 | Izvor: Beta
Skoplje -- Preminuo jedan policajac, koji je danas bio ranjen u napadu nepoznatih napadaèa kod sela Tanuševci, na granici prema Kosovu.

Policijski izvori su i zvanièno potvrdili da su još dva policajca ranjena kod sela Tanuševci. Oni su bili u džipu kada je na njih nepoznata grupa napadaèa pucala iz automatskog oružja. Izvori Bete iz MUP-a kažu da je identitet napadaèa za sada nepoznat, ali da se pretpostavlja da su došli van Makedonije.

Sumnja se da u Tanuševcima veæ nekoliko meseci boravi naoružana grupa Džezaira Šaæirija, zvanog Komandant Hodža, koji je tokom sukoba 2001. godine u Makedoniji komandovao naoružanim albanskim grupama u toj oblasti.

Nakon završetka sukoba, postao je poslanik Demokratske unije za integracije. On je pretio makedonskoj policiji i vlasti da æe u
novembru raspisati referendum za otcepljenje sela od Makedonije i pripajanje Kosovu.

Ssaæiri, medjutim za to nije dobio podršku stanovništva, a nekoliko puta je prijavljivao incidente i pucnjave u selu koje policija nije potvrdila.

Tanuševci su na 25 kilometara severno od Skoplja u planini prema Kosovu.