List of terrorist incidents in North Macedonia

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The list contains incidents in North Macedonia that have been classified as "terrorist" by the Government of North Macedonia and/or the United States Department of State.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Liberation Army (Macedonia)</span> Albanian militia in the Republic of Macedonia

The National Liberation Army, also known as the Macedonian UÇK, was an ethnic Albanian militant militia that operated in the Republic of Macedonia in 2001 and was closely associated with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Following the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia, it was disarmed through the Ohrid Framework Agreement, which gave greater rights and autonomy to the state's Macedonian Albanians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan</span> 1998–2015 Islamist militant group in Asia.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 by Islamic ideologue Tahir Yuldashev and former Soviet paratrooper Juma Namangani; both ethnic Uzbeks from the Fergana Valley. Its original objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and create an Islamic state under Sharia; however, in subsequent years, it reinvented itself as an ally of Al-Qaeda. The group also maintained relations with Afghan Taliban in 1990s. However, later on, relations between the Afghan Taliban and the IMU started declining.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VMRO-DPMNE</span> Macedonian political party

The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity, abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE, is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2001 insurgency in Macedonia</span> Armed conflict in Macedonia

The 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia was an armed conflict which began when the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) insurgent group, formed from veterans of the Kosovo War and insurgency in the Preševo Valley, attacked Macedonian security forces at the end of January 2001, and ended with the Ohrid Agreement, signed on 13 August of that same year. There were also claims that the NLA ultimately wished to see Albanian-majority areas secede from the country, though high-ranking members of the group have denied this. The conflict lasted throughout most of the year, although overall casualties remained limited to several dozen individuals on either side, according to sources from both sides of the conflict. With it, the Yugoslav Wars had reached the Republic of Macedonia which had achieved peaceful independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Prior to the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) posed the greatest threat to the Karimov administration. In 2002 the IMU was reclassified as terrorist by the United States. Since the invasion, the IMU has been greatly weakened due to US military actions which cut off its supply of resources and killed its leader, Juma Namangani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albanian National Army</span> Albanian paramilitary group in southeast Europe

The Albanian National Army is an Albanian paramilitary organization which operates in North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo. The group opposes the Ohrid Framework Agreement which ended the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia between members of the National Liberation Army and Macedonian security forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accession of North Macedonia to the European Union</span> Ongoing accession process of North Macedonia to the EU

The accession of North Macedonia to the European Union has been on the current agenda for future enlargement of the EU since 2005, when it became an official candidate for accession. The then Republic of Macedonia submitted its membership application in 2004, thirteen years after its independence from Yugoslavia. It is one of nine current EU candidate countries, together with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Macedonia</span> Country in Southeast Europe

North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the north. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's population of 1.83 million. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Roma, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in North Macedonia</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in North Macedonia face discrimination and some legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity have been legal in North Macedonia since 1996, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples.

The Smilkovci Lake killings also called the Smilkovci Lake massacre, was the killing of five ethnic Macedonian civilians that took place on 12 April 2012. They were shot and killed at a man-made lake near the village of Smilkovci, outside the Macedonian capital Skopje. According to the Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the attack was carried out with the intent to "incite fear and insecurity" and the ministry called it a "deliberate terrorist act aimed at destabilizing the country". The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights criticised the ministry for prematurely judging the suspects as guilty.

The fight against terrorisminAzerbaijan is one of Azerbaijan's declared priorities. International organizations banned as terrorist include Al Qaeda, Al-Nusra Front, Jamaat, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islamic International Brigade, ISIS, Jeyshullah, and PKK. According to the Global Terrorism Database, seven people have been killed and over 20 injured in terrorist attacks from 2000 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Mountain Storm</span> 2007 Macedonian police operation

Operation Mountain Storm was carried out on 7 November 2007 by special police forces of the Republic of Macedonia against an armed ethnic Albanian group in the Šar Mountains of Brodec above Tetovo region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vejce ambush</span> Ambush near Vejce, Macedonia

The Vejce ambush, also known as the Vejce massacre, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Kumanovo clashes</span> Series of shootouts in Kumanovo

The 2015 Kumanovo clashes were series of shootouts which erupted during a raid between the Macedonian police and an armed group identifying itself as the National Liberation Army (NLA). They began on 9 May 2015 in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo. During the shootings, 8 Macedonian policemen and 10 of the militants were killed, while 37 officers were wounded and hospitalized. The shooting ended on 10 May 2015, in an operation by the Macedonian police, in which 30 militants were arrested and charged with terrorism-related charges by the Macedonian authorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Macedonian protests</span>

In April 2016, protests began in the Republic of Macedonia against the incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov and the government led by the interim Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev from the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. Referred to by some as the Colorful Revolution, the protests started after the controversial decision by President Gjorge Ivanov to stop the investigation of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and dozens of politicians who were allegedly involved in a wiretapping scandal. The demonstrations were organized by "Protestiram" and supported by a coalition led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and other opposition parties, in addition to the newly formed Levica demanding that the government resign and be replaced by a transitional government and that the parliamentary elections planned for 5 June 2016 be cancelled, on the grounds that the conditions for free and transparent elections were not in place. The government and its supporters, who had organized pro-government rallies, maintained that the elections on June 5 were the only solution to the political crisis, with some observers blaming the opposition for creating a "Ukraine scenario" in Macedonia.

Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov was a Tajik and Islamist military commander. He was a lieutenant-colonel and commander of the police special forces of the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan until 2015, when he defected to the Islamic State. In September 2016, he was reported to have been appointed as the minister of war of IS in place of Abu Omar al-Shishani; his appointment had not been announced by IS for fears that he might be targeted in airstrikes by the anti-IS coalition. On 8 September 2017, Khalimov was allegedly killed during a Russian airstrike near Deir ez-Zor, Syria. However, the Tajik government, United Nations, and the United States believed that he was still alive by 2019, though his exact fate remained disputed. By 2020, Islamist militants claimed he had died at some point; this source was considered unreliable by the Tajik government. Regardless, the United States had removed Khalimov from their Rewards for Justice Program by 2021.

The Karpalak ambush, referred to by Macedonians as the Karpalak massacre, was an attack carried out by the National Liberation Army (NLA) against a convoy of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM) near the village of Grupčin on 8 August 2001 during the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia. Ten members of the ARM's Military Reserve Force, including two officers, were killed at Karpalak and three others were wounded. The ambush was the single deadliest incident of the conflict. It was speculated that the ambush was carried out in retaliation for a Macedonian police raid in Skopje, the day before in which five NLA insurgents were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aračinovo crisis</span> Siege during the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia

The Aračinovo crisis was a series of events triggered by the occupation of the village of Aračinovo, in the outskirts of the Macedonian capital Skopje, by the insurgent National Liberation Army (NLA) in June 2001 and the consequent attempts by the Macedonian army (ARM) to retake the settlement. The Macedonian attack resulted in a standoff with NATO, whose troops evacuated the besieged rebels after a ceasefire accord. The crisis is considered to be the turning point in the Macedonian war of 2001, and one of its most controversial incidents.

The Tearce attack was an attack carried out by the National Liberation Army on a Macedonian police station in Tearce, North Macedonia. This attack marked the beginning of the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia. As a result of the attack, one police officer was killed and three others were injured and the NLA captured Tearce.

Avdil Jakupi, also known by his nom de guerre "Commander Jackal", is an Albanian commander of Albanian National Army (ANA), former member of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB) and National Liberation Army (NLA).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 White Book: Terrorism of the So-Called NLA. Skopje: Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia. 2001. pp. 7, 109–120, 134. Archived from the original on 5 March 2015.
  2. "Attempt at Agim Krasniqi's life reported" . Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  3. "Ethnic Albanians Convicted Of 'Terrorism' In Macedonian Murder Retrial". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 23 February 2021.
  4. "Country Reports on Terrorism 2014 - Macedonia". UNHCR. United States Department of State. 19 June 2015.
  5. "Gunmen Seize Macedonian Border Post". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2015-04-21. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  6. 1 2 "Country Reports on Terrorism 2015". U.S. Embassy in North Macedonia. 20 May 2016.
  7. "Ликвидирана терористичката група". mvr.gov.mk. Retrieved 2024-11-21.