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Macedonia police kill terror suspects
SKOPJE, Macedonia (CNN) -- Police in Macedonia have shot dead seven suspected Islamic terrorists planning to attack foreign embassies, Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski says. The insurgents -- believed to be from outside the country -- were killed while attempting to ambush a police patrol in the Macedonian village of Ljarachinovo north of Skopje. There were seven attackers, Boshkovski said, and seven people were killed, although the minister was not clear if the dead were all attackers. No police were injured, he said, and four people were arrested. Boskovski said the attackers, most believed to be from outside Macedonia, were armed with assault rifles, Chinese hand grenades and other weapons. The ministry statement said that four people were arrested who were believed to have been mujahadeen from Pakistan.
Officials added that they had been planning to attack "vital installations and some foreign embassies in Skopje." The statement also said security forces also found uniforms with shoulder patches of the NLA, a now-disbanded rebel group that fought Macedonian forces last year. "Our people knew that the terrorists were coming with a van so they were prepared," a senior interior ministry official told Reuters. The official also said the ministry believed the suspects had been working with ethnic Albanian guerrillas. "We have strengthened security around the more important foreign embassies, those that might be potential targets for the terrorists groups," a senior police official said. Last week, Macedonia police arrested a group of mujahadeen who told authorities that another group was planning to enter Macedonia for attacks on the German, British and American embassies. The embassies have reportedly tightened security. Police said the four-member group comprised two Jordanians and two Bosnians who had studied in Jordan, living in the centre of Skopje. Ethnic Albanian rebels launched their insurgency last year, demanding more rights for their minority, comprising nearly a third of Macedonia's 2 million population. Fighting in Macedonia that killed dozens and prompted thousands to flee ended in August when a Western-brokered peace deal was signed. Rebels surrendered some 4,000 weapons to NATO in exchange for constitutional amendments and a set of laws which granted ethnic Albanians more rights. Five weeks ago hopes of a lasting peace were raised when Macedonia's parliament overwhelmingly finally approved the long-awaited law granting broader rights to the ethnic Albanian minority. |
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