Aračinovo ambush
The Aračinovo ambush, was a violent incident carried out by the Albanian National Army against the police of the Republic of Macedonia in the predominantly Albanian-inhabited village of Aračinovo, located just outside of the capital Skopje, on January 11, 2000. The drive-by style attack occurred during the heightened tensions following the Kosovo War and is considered the first major event leading up to the beginning of the insurgency in Macedonia in 2001.
| Aračinovo ambush | |
|---|---|
| Part of the prelude to the Insurgency in Macedonia (2001) | |
| Location |  Aračinovo, North Macedonia |
| Date | 11 January 2000 |
| Target |  Macedonian Police |
Attack type | Drive-by shooting |
| Deaths | 3-4 Macedonian policemen |
| Perpetrators |  Albanian National Army |
No. of participants | 10 suspects[1] |
| Motive | Albanian nationalism, Greater Albania |
Attack
[edit]On the night of January 11, 2000, three police officers (according to The Small Arms Survey, four)[2] were killed at a checkpoint near the village of Aračinovo, located near Skopje, Macedonia.[3] The assailants emerged from vehicles waiting at the checkpoint and opened fire with automatic weapons before fleeing the scene.[3] Aračinovo, a village with a predominantly ethnic Albanian population, became the focus of the subsequent police investigation.[3] All individuals searched or detained in connection with the attack were ethnic Albanians.[3] The victims, however, were non-Albanians; two of the slain officers were ethnic Macedonians, while the third was of Turkish descent.[3] The bodies of the dead policemen were also reported to have been mutilated, according to the Macedonian witness who first discovered them.[4]
Aftermath
[edit]The ANA released a communiqué in February 2000, claiming responsibility for the attack.[2] The killing of three police officers near the Albanian village of Aracinovo led to some of the worst police abuses in Macedonia since the 1997 riots and crackdown in Gostivar and Tetovo.[5] After the attack, Macedonian police assaulted numerous ethnic Albanian residents and vandalized property in Aračinovo.[5][6] One of the three suspects arrested in connection with the murders died in police custody.[5][6] Human Rights Watch reported that nine other suspects were also arrested, beaten while in custody, and some were coerced into signing confessions.[5][6] An investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman that year concluded that the police had used excessive force in Aračinovo and recommended an internal inquiry.[6] While some families received compensation for property damage, the government has not held the responsible officers accountable for the abuse.[6] In the following months, three Macedonian police stations in ethnic Albanian areas were attacked, though any connection to the Aracinovo incident remained unclear.[5] The key witness in the trial of the Albanian suspects, surviving Macedonian police officer Goran Novkovski, stated that the police had been informed they were participating in a special operation to locate stolen luxury vehicles. During the operation, they were sent without body armor, gas masks, or automatic rifles, and they also lacked a flashlight, forcing them to inspect vehicles using a lighter. According to his testimony, the assailants responsible for the police killings were in an Opel Kadett.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Ramet, Sabrina P. (2006-06-06). The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918-2005. Indiana University Press. p. 575. ISBN 978-0-253-34656-8.
- ^ a b Suzette R. Grillot; Wolf-Christian Paes; Hans Risser; Shelly O. Stoneman (June 2004). "A Fragile Peace: Guns and Security in Post-conflict Macedonia" (PDF). The Small Arms Survey. pp. 24–25.
- ^ a b c d e "FYR of Macedonia: After the Aracinovo murders - Torture, ill-treatment and possible extrajudicial execution". Refworld. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
- ^ "Утрински Весник". web.archive.org. 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
- ^ a b c d e "Human Rights Watch World Report 2001 - Macedonia". Refworld. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
- ^ a b c d e Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Report Submitted to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives and Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate by the Department of State in Accordance with Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended. U.S. Government Printing Office. 2001. p. 1613.
- ^ "Судскиот процес за убиството на полицајците во Арачиново - 12 години без епилог | Кајгана". web.archive.org. 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2025-03-17.