MACEDONIA: GOVERNMENT FORCES LAUNCH ASSAULT AGAINST ALBANIAN GUERRILLAS OCCUPYING VILLAGE

Record ID: 566290

  • Title: MACEDONIA: GOVERNMENT FORCES LAUNCH ASSAULT AGAINST ALBANIAN GUERRILLAS OCCUPYING VILLAGE
  • Date: 26th May 2001
  • Summary: (U5) NEAR VAKCINCE, MACEDONIA (MAY 24, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. AERIALS OF MACEDONIAN MILITARY HELICOPTERS SHOOTING NEAR VAKCINCE VILLAGE (5 SHOTS) 0.42 2. SLV SOLDIERS WALKING IN STREET NEAR TRENCHES (3 SHOTS) 1.01 3. SOUNDBITE (Macedonian) LJUBE BOSKOVSKI, INTERIOR MINISTER OF MACENDONIA, SAYING "The terrorist activity is against the constitution of our state and therefor it is our right to act against them in the name of defending our constitution. There are laws in this country." 1.24 4. SCU SOLDIERS IN TRENCHES AND ON FRONT LINE (14 SHOTS) 2.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEAR VAKCINCE, MACEDONIA
  • Country: Macedonia
  • Reuters ID: LVA625W43R0DRZYI2CZFKDNRPYCZ
  • Story Text: Macedonia's army launched its most determined assault
    in more than three weeks of fighting with ethnic Albanian
    guerrillas and dislodged them from part of one occupied
    village.

    Western powers have urged Macedonia to act with
    restraint, fearing an all-out assault could inflict heavy
    civilian casualties, further polarising the country's ethnic
    Slavs and Albanians and bring the risk of civil war closer.

    The Macedonia army said it had ordered its armed forces to
    launch an offensive to drive guerrillas from the cluster of
    villages they have held despite heavy long-range shelling.

    Interior Minister Ljube Boshkovski said security forces
    had entered Vakcince, a guerrilla stronghold, and were working
    from house to house to avoid causing civilian casualties.

    About a kilometre from the village he spoke to reporters
    and defended the army's attack.

    "The terrorist activity is against the constitution of our
    state and therefor it is our right to act against them in the
    name of defending our constitution."
    There was no immediate government comment on a report from
    the guerrillas which said seven civilians were killed in
    nearby Slupcane and Orizare, six of them from the same family
    sheltering in a basement hit by an artillery shell.

    For the first time since May 3, the bombardment was
    accompanied by movement on the ground.

    But reports of civilian deaths indicated the assault could
    have a heavy political price.

    Four Macedonian tanks, one of them with a huge Macedonian
    flag on top, took up positions on a hill overlooking the
    village of Vakcince in apparent preparation for an infantry
    assault.

    Macedonia's artillery, mortars and helicopter gunships hit
    not only villages entrenchments but also targets deep into the
    mountainous area towards the border with Kosovo and Serbia.

    Intensive fire shook the hills for most of the morning,
    followed by a lull around noon.


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