Macedonia Arrests Seven Connected To Deadly Clash In May

Macedonian police said they have arrested seven people suspected of providing logistical support to an armed group that clashed with police earlier this year, leaving 18 people dead.

Police made the arrests during raids in three villages October 15 near Kumanovo, about 45 kilometers north of the capital, Skopje.

Police spokesman Ivo Kotevski said those arrested are suspected of terrorism and aiding a terrorist group for having housed the armed group involved in the deadly gunfight with police in May.

Eight police and 10 gunmen were killed and 37 police were wounded in two days of fighting in a suburb of Kumanovo.

Thirty gunmen surrendered and are awaiting trial on terrorism-related charges.

The fighting in Kumanovo was the worst since an ethnic Albanian insurgency in 2001 in Macedonia, a quarter of whose population is ethnic Albanian.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP