Vejce ambush

The Vejce ambush (Macedonian: Вејце заседа, romanized: Vejce zaseda), also known by Macedonians as the Vejce massacre (Macedonian: Масакрот во Вејце, romanized: Masakrot vo Vejce), was carried out by the National Liberation Army against a Special Operations Regiment convoy near the village of Vejce during the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia. During the attack, eight soldiers were killed.^[1]

Vejce ambush
Part of the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia
Date 28 April 2001 at about 5:45 p.m Location Between Selce and Vejce Result NLA victory Anti-Albanian sentiment spreads across the country with Anti-Albanian protests and riots across the city ICTY launches a war crime inquiry in November 2001
Belligerents
Macedonia	National Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Robert Petkovski † Boban Trajkovski † Igor Kosteski † Mile Janevski †	Unknown
Units involved
Macedonian Army Wolves  Macedonian Police Special Support Unit Bitola Unit	Unknowm
Strength
8 soldiers 8 police officers	Unknown
Casualties and losses
4 soldiers killed 1 Humvee destroyed 1 Humvee damaged 4 officers killed 1 Lada Niva destroyed 1 Lada Niva damaged	None

Ambush

On 28 April 2001, 16 Macedonian soldiers and police officers were carrying out a routine patrol.^[2] At approximately 5:45 p.m., ethnic Albanian militants carried out an ambush on the convoy positioned between the villages Selce and Vejce.^[3][4][5] Out of the 16 soldiers, 8 were killed, half of the total.

The killed officers Marjan Božinovski, Kire Kostadinovski, Boško Najdovski and Ilče Stojanovski were members of the special police unit from Bitola. The killed soldiers Robert Petkovski, Boban Trajkovski, Igor Kosteski and Mile Janevski were sergeants. A Humvee and a Lada Niva were destroyed, and other two vehicles sustained damage. According to Macedonian news sources and the Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the soldiers were mutilated and burned alive.^[6][7][8]

Aftermath

According to Amnesty International, the Macedonian government labeled the Vejce ambush as a crime against humanity.^[9] Per Macedonian news sources, autopsies were carried out in a military morgue. Subsequently, news of the deaths fueled local unrest, sparking riots against ethnic Albanians in several towns and cities across Macedonia. These disturbances encompassed the burning and vandalizing of shops and mosques.^[10][11] A war crime inquiry regarding the ambush was launched by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in November 2001.^[12][13][14] The ICTY returned the case to the local Macedonian courts on 2007.^[15]

Reactions

The Secretary General of NATO at the time, George Robertson, condemned the ambush, stating: "I condemn the cowardly acts of the extremists and my message is simple: the violence must end and their tactics will not be successful."^[16] The attack was also condemned by the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana.^[17] Anthropologist Vasiliki Neofotistos wrote of "the gruesome event that came to be known as the Vejce massacre" and its aftermath:^[18]

"On 28 April NLA insurgents killed eight Macedonian male commandos in the Macedonian Army Special Forces, also known as "Wolves" (Volci), in an ambush near the village of Vejce, nine miles north of Tetovo. According to the eyewitness account of the only Macedonian soldier who managed to escape the ambush, the assailants were bearded men. The killing shocked public opinion because the reportedly bearded assailants used knives to dig out the eyes and cut off the ears and genitals of the Macedonian soldiers while the soldiers were still alive, and raised once again haunting questions concerning the origin of the people who committed these atrocious acts. The mutilation of the commandos' bodies, together with rumors about mujahideen groups operating in Macedonia, motivated people to action: in the city of Bitola (home of four of the commandos), Macedonians formed community self-defense groups; in Skopje, gunmen in a passing car opened fire on the Albanian Embassy and on an Albanian-owned pizzeria, killing an Albanian man; businesses and stores of Albanians and other Muslims in both cities were looted or burned."

According to Nikola Dimitrov in an interview with The Guardian:^[19]

"They were hit by everything," said Nikola Dimitrov, then-security adviser to President Boris Trajkovski. "They used hand grenades, rocket launchers and machine guns. He said the guerrilla's had gone out of their way to disfigure the corpses. "It's unbelievable, and it's going to damage the political process. Now it will be so difficult to proceed."

— Nikola Dimitrov

The leader of the NLA at the time, Ali Ahmeti, claimed that the ethnic Albanian fighters had not attacked the Macedonians, stating they were acting in self-defense and were fired on first by the Macedonian patrol.^[4] The claim was not independently confirmed. The United Nations Security Council condemned the ambush, calling it "cowardly" and "brutal".^[20]

See also

• Karpalak ambush
• Ambush near Treboš

References

1. "8 soldiers slain in ambush near Albanian region". Chicago Tribune. 29 April 2001. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
2. "Skopje peace talks in peril after massacre of patrol". The Guardian. 30 April 2001.
3. "Macedonia on alert after killings". CNN. 29 April 2001.
4. Poolos, Alexandra (30 April 2001). "Macedonia: Ambush Derails Prospects For Truce With Ethnic Albanians". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
5. "Годишнина од масакрот кај Вејце" [Anniversary of the Vejce massacre]. Sloboden Pecat (in Macedonian). 28 April 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
6. White Book: Terrorism of the So-Called NLA. Skopje: Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia. 2001. pp. 112–113, 192–195. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015.
7. "The Vejce massacre (Macedonian)". Makedonsko Sonce. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
8. Changova, Katica (16 October 2006). "Осумкратното убиство кај Вејце сè уште нерасветлено" [The eightfold murder near Vejce is still unsolved] (in Macedonian). Utrinski Vesnik. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
9. "Amnesty International Annual Report 2002". Amnesty International. 27 May 2002. p. 164.
10. Sotirovska, Natali N. "RMK Ahmeti Should Face Criminal Charges For Vejce Massacre". Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
11. "Eight years since the Vejce massacre". Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Macedonia. Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
12. "Macedonia 'war crimes' probe". BBC News. 20 November 2001.
13. "Blast as Macedonia probe begins". CNN. 21 November 2001.
14. Jovanovski, Vladimir (23 November 2001). "Macedonia: War Crimes Inquiries Begin". Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
15. Petrovic, Predrag (18 September 2007). "IN DEPTH: War Crimes Trials Pose Test for Macedonia". Balkan Insight (BIRN).
16. "Macedonia on alert after killings". 29 April 2001. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
17. "Macedonian border deaths condemned". BBC News. 29 April 2001.
18. Neofotistos, Vasiliki P. (2012-03-14). The Risk of War: Everyday Sociality in the Republic of Macedonia. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-8122-0656-2.
19. Wood, Nicholas (2001-04-30). "Skopje peace talks in peril after massacre of patrol". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
20. "Security Council members, Annan condemn ambush in FRY of Macedonia". United Nations. 30 April 2001.