2001 Skopje police raid

During the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia, a raid was conducted by the Macedonian police against ethnic Albanian rebels in a suburb of Skopje on 7 August. The police killed the rebel group and captured their weapon supplies.

Skopje police raid
Part of the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia
Date 7 August 2001 Location Skopje, Macedonia Result Macedonian police victory[1][2][3]
Belligerents
Macedonian police	National Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Ljube Boškoski	Lefter Koxhaj †[1]
Units involved
Special police unit "Tigers"	Skanderbeg special unit[4]
Strength
200+ policemen[5]	Unknown
Casualties and losses
None[6]	5 killed[7][3]
30 arrested[8][3] 4 detained

Raid

The Macedonian special police unit "Tigers" performed a raid on 7 August 2001, in the Skopje suburb of Čair around 4:00 a.m. (UTC+2).^[5][9] Five rebels were killed by the police in the raid.^[1] National Liberation Army (NLA) commander Lefter Koxhaj, also known as Commander Teli, was among those killed.^[1][3] According to the Macedonian interior minister Ljube Boškovski, the Macedonian police acted on information that NLA rebels were planning an attack on the capital and that they would attack from the nearby village of Aračinovo,^[2] 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.^[10][11]

Per Boškovski, the police tried to arrest the rebels, encountered "strong armed resistance" and returned fire.^[1] He reported that 30 people were arrested in the police operation.^[1] 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. During the operation, four suspects were taken to the Gazi Baba police station for interrogation on suspicion of being members of the NLA.^[12]

Aftermath

Main article: Karpalak ambush

On the following day, an investigator of the Human Rights Watch who was on the scene, Peter Bouckaert, said there was no evidence of "strong armed resistance" and that the men were lying down when they were shot.^[5] According to a Washington Post report: "The house looked more like the scene of a summary execution. A reporter saw no signs that the victims had fired a shot at the raiders. Windows were closed, and no bullet holes nicked the walls or ceiling. The front door had not been forced open."^[13] The Albanian-language news media reported the killing as a premeditated execution, describing the scene in detail.^[4][14] The broadcasting of Albanian-language news on Macedonian Radio Television was interrupted for 23 days.^[15] Two suspects who were detained were released. Another suspect was kept in custody but later released in December 2001 following a presidential amnesty for members of the NLA.^[12] One suspect went missing.

Ethnic Albanian politicians acknowledged the police raid and the deaths but refused to comment.^[16] Members of the NLA and ethnic Albanians claimed the men were civilians.^[17][18] On the same day the NLA attacked a Macedonian army convoy near Tetovo in what would become known as Karpalak ambush, supposedly as retaliation for the 5 Albanians killed by the police during the raid.^[18]

References

1. "Macedonia rebels killed in raid". CNN. 7 August 2001. SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Five ethnic Albanian rebels have been killed in a police raid to seize illegal weapons, Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski has said.
2. "Macedonia Police Kill Five Rebels in Skopje". Tehran Times. 8 August 2001. 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.
3. "Дали Охридскиот договор спречи граѓанска војна?". Civil Media (in Macedonian). 13 August 2019.
4. M, Xh (2022-08-07). "21 vite nga rënia e komandant Telit, djali: Bashkë me shokët shkruat historinë". Agjencia Zhurnal.mk. (in Albanian). Retrieved 2023-06-20.
5. "Five rebels shot dead by police in Skopje as peace edges closer". The Independent. 8 August 2001. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
6. 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.
7. "Macedonian Police Kill 5 Albanian Rebels". NY Times. Associated Press. 8 August 2001. 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.
8. "Macedonia rebels killed in raid". CNN. Retrieved 15 October 2022. A total of 30 people had been arrested in the police crackdown, Boskovski said.
9. "The 2001 Conflict in FYROM-Reflections" (PDF). Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. 2004. p. 34.
10. "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
11. "Macedonian government launches new attack on rebels". The Guardian. 11 June 2001. 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.
12. "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - "Where are they now"? Their families need to know! - Alleged "disappearances" and abductions in 2001" (PDF). Amnesty International. 2003. p. 3. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
13. John Phillips (2004). Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans. Yale University Press. p. 135. ISBN 9781860648410.
14. Kolstø, Pål, ed. (2009). Media Discourse and the Yugoslav Conflicts: Representations of Self and Other. Ashgate. pp. 188–189. ISBN 9780754676294.
15. Albert Simkus; Ola Listhaug (2013). Civic and Uncivic Values in Macedonia: Value Transformation, Education and Media. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 242–243. ISBN 9781137302823.
16. "Macedonian Police Kill 5 Albanian Rebels". NY Times. Associated Press. 8 August 2001. 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.
17. 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
18. "Macedonia battle rages". CNN. 8 August 2001. 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.