KUMANOVO, Macedonia
At least 22 people, including eight Macedonian police officers were killed in two days of clashes between security forces and an armed group close to the Kosovo border, an official said Sunday.
Minister of Interior spokesman Ivo Koteski said at a press conference in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, on Sunday afternoon that at least 37 police personnel were also wounded in fighting around the town of Kumanovo, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Skopje.
The spokesman said that the police operation was now over and the armed group involved had been “disabled.”
He added that security forces had also killed 14 attackers, who allegedly belonged to a paramilitary group based in Kosovo.
He said that a total of 30 alleged attackers had also surrendered to authorities. "More than 30 terrorists, mainly Macedonian nationals and an Albanian surrendered yesterday to police officers," he said.
Earlier, the official Macedonian Information Agency (MIA) said that five officers were killed Saturday, while a sixth officer succumbed to his injuries Sunday.
Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska said police had intercepted a “terrorist group (that) was planning to attack strategic targets” early Saturday morning, MIA reported, sparking a gunbattle that continued throughout the day.
Jankulovska said that 20 suspects surrendered at around 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), but one armed group had refused to give in.
An Anadolu Agency correspondent at the scene reported gunfire coming from Tode Mendol on the outskirts of Kumanovo on Sunday morning. A heavy police presence remained in the town, with a helicopter flying overhead.
"Yesterday it was just like a real war and this morning shots can be heard again,” Kumanovo resident Mladen Krsteski said before the police operation ended. “I hope that it will all end very quickly because this is not good for anybody. I hope the police and army will hunt down all the terrorists so that we can continue with (our) normal lives."
Stefan Andevski added: "The whole town is scared. We hope that all this will end soon. Yesterday, they said that they have completed the operation but this morning we heard gunfire again. The situation is not very good."
Last month, a police station in Gosince, near Kumanovo, was attacked by a group of armed men who claimed to be members of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
Macedonia has a significant ethnic Albanian population and in 2001 the KLA, which fought Serbian forces for Kosovan independence in the 1990s, launched an insurgency in Macedonia, demanding more rights for ethnic Albanians.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said the National Security Council will meet later Sunday.
