Operation Mountain Storm

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Operation Mountain Storm
The fighting occurred just north of Tetovo (marked on map of Macedonia)
Date November 7, 2007 Location The north-west of the Republic of Macedonia: Sub-Šar Mountain villages Brodec, Vesala and Vejce Result Militants defeated
Belligerents
Police of the Republic of Macedonia	Political Advisory Body of the Kosovo Liberation Army[1]
Casualties and losses
None	6 killed 12 captured

Operation Mountain Storm (Macedonian: Операција Планинска бура, Operacija Planinska bura) was an action carried by the police of the Republic of Macedonia on November 7, 2007 against alleged armed Albanian criminals in the Šar Mountain area of western Republic of Macedonia. Sub-Sar Mountain villages Brodec, Vesala and Vejce near Tetovo were involved in the fighting.^[2]

Contents 1 Background 2 The operation 2.1 Weapons seized 3 Claim of responsibility 4 References 5 See also

[edit] Background

The armed group was thought to be headed by Lirim Jakupi, a.k.a. Nazi, a convicted criminal who escaped with seven other men in a violent break-out from Kosovo's Dubrava Prison in August 2007 and was believed to be hiding in the area. Xhavid Morina, another escaped convict from Dubrava Prison, was found dead near Odri, a village close to Tetovo the week before. Also, in late October, one police officer was killed and two other were injured when they came under fire in the vicinity of the village of Tanusevci, where the 2001 ethnic conflict started. The interior ministry said smugglers were believed to be responsible for that attack and that the incident was not related to ethnic tensions.^[3][4]

[edit] The operation

Macedonian Interior Ministry reported that six gunmen were killed and twelve arrested in the operation. Four others had been arrested in Skopje before the clash. Various weapons, including bombs, ammunition, automatic weapons and rocket launchers were recovered by police. Police helicopters were involved in the operation.^[5]

A witness told that he saw men in uniforms bearing the insignia of the UCK, a disbanded Albanian guerrilla force, were seen patrolling the village the previous day. According to this witness, one house in the village was burning and the local mosque had been damaged by gunfire.

KFOR, the NATO occupation force in Kosovo, increased its troop level on the Kosovo side of the border since the start of the Macedonian operation.^[6]

KFOR claimed that a helicopter went down in the area, but that it does not belong to the NATO forces in the province. The Macedonian Interior Ministry denied that claim.^[7] KFOR sources denied that a helicopter was downed on the Kosovo side of the border and maintained that they did not know if any helicopter was shot down on the Macedonian side.^[8]

[edit] Weapons seized

The weapons seized in the operation included three mortars along with 111 grenades, two non-recoil cannons with 40 grenades, electronically guided anti-tank missile system 9M111 Fagot, four anti-aircraft missile launchers, four anti-aircraft missile systems Strela 2, nine RPGs M80 "Zolja", two grenade launchers M79 "Osa" along with seven missiles, six rocket-propelled grenade launchers RPG along with 132 grenades, one 40mm hand-held grenade launcher MGL-6, hand grenades F1 (58 pieces), 61 land mines, anti-tank mines (29 pieces), four sniper rifles, nine machine guns, 31 trotile charges, two packages containing plastic explosive, and other weapons.^[9]

[edit] Claim of responsibility

On November 8, 2007, a group of ethnic-Albanians from Serbia’s Kosovo province took responsibility for the shootout with Macedonian police. The self-declared Political Advisory Body of the Kosovo Liberation Army issued a statement claiming its members were forced to form armed units to protect endangered Albanian nationals in the Serbia-Macedonia region.^[10]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• 2001 Macedonia conflict
• Military history of the Republic of Macedonia