Another 37 officers were wounded in Saturday's pre-dawn raid.
Ivo Kotevski, an Interior Ministry spokesman, told a news conference that the gunmen were led by ethnic Albanian former rebel commanders from Kosovo, which broke away from Serbia in war in 1999.
Kotevski named five leaders of the group, all citizens of Kosovo, as founders of paramilitary cells. He said the group entered FYROM at the beginning of May to launch attacks on state institutions and hid out in Kumanovo's western neighbourhood, where police found a huge arsenal of weapons.
Kotevski said no civilians were reported killed in the raid, which continued into Sunday. Many had fled, carrying their belongings in bags.
More than 30 people were arrested and some of them were taken before a judge in the capital Skopje.
However some residents in Kumanovo were deeply sceptical of the official version of events.
Citizens 'surprised'
"Me, like other citizens, we are surprised and no one knows what and why this happened. I know during the war in 2001 we were informed and we have supported these groups that were fighting for the Albanian cause but now it is the contrary," Kumanovo resident Xhelal Ademi told the Reuters news agency.
"The people in this region were guarding their villages to not let anyone infiltrate from outside our villages," Ademi said...etc ...aljazeera.com
***[After the necessary corrections with the name "FYROM".
GREECE recognized this country with the name "FYROM"]
***[UN resolution A/RES/47/225 of 8 April 1993]
10/5/15
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged restraint in FYROM on Sunday and called for a transparent investigation of violence in which the government said eight police and 14 members of an "armed group" were killed...
ReplyDelete"I am following the developments in Kumanovo with great concern," Stoltenberg said in a statement. "It is important that all political and community leaders work together to restore calm and conduct a transparent investigation to establish what happened."
"I urge everyone to exercise restraint and avoid any further escalation, in the interest of the country and the whole region," he said.
REUTERS
10/5/15
The Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union calls on FYROM authorities, and both government and community leaders, to work together to prevent any escalation of violence...
ReplyDeletePreventing violence and providing a transparent investigation into these incidents is instrumental for restoring stability. Latvia condemns the attacks of militants on government institutions and local authorities.
https://eu2015.lv/news/media-releases/1653-latvia-concerned-about-clashes-in-kumanovo
10/5/15