Macedonian policeman killed in fresh attack near Kosovo
One policeman was killed and two others injured on Wednesday in the latest attack on Macedonian security forces near Kosovo, Macedonian police officials said.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, October 25, 2007
A police patrol was ambushed near the village of Tanusevci, a former stronghold of the National Liberation Army (Ushtria Clirimtare Kombetare - UCK) during the 2001 Albanian uprising against the Macedonian government in Skopje.
However, none of the several shadowy Albanian underground groups has claimed the responsibility for the attack so far, including the outlawed Albanian National army (AKSh) and the even more mysterious Army of Ilirida, both allegedly active on Macedonian soil.
According to Macedonian officials, the police patrol was attacked around noon on Wednesday on the road leading from the remote army border outpost Kodra Fura to the restless Albanian-dominated villages of Brest and Malino.
The attackers sprayed the police vehicle with bullets, fatally wounding one officer. Two others were injured as the vehicle crashed in nearby ditch, the police report said.
The Macedonian government deployed special police forces in the volatile region hours after the shooting, but no further incidents have been reported.
However, the leader of the Albanian population in the region, former guerrilla commander Xhezair Shaqiri, a.k.a. "Commander Hoxha" rejected any responsibility for the shooting.
In the last several moths, tensions are running high in the border area between Macedonia and the Serbian UN-administered province of Kosovo, as Shaqiri's supporters announced they would stage a referendum to join "future independent Kosovo".
The latest in a series of incidents involving Albanian outlaws and Macedonian security forces is likely to increase tensions in that tiny Balkan country ahead of the final chapter of ongoing negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina on Kosovo's future status.
Macedonian officials, including president Branko Crvenkovski, warned that raising tensions in negotiations could spill the crisis over the Macedonian border and seriously undermine the political process launched in the country following 2001 conflict.
