Eight police officers, 14 gunmen killed in Macedonia clashes

An armored police vehicle passes near a police check point in Kumanovo, Macedonia May 10, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

"INFILTRATED"

Albanians in Kumanovo were deeply sceptical of the official version of Saturday's events.

"This is pure manipulation," said 40-year-old unemployed man Elham Murad, who fled his home in the Kumanovo suburb after fighting broke out. He said he had seen nothing unusual in the days leading up to the police operation, bar an unmanned drone flying above the town the day before.

"This is a stunt by Gruevski to cover up Zaev's revelations," he said. Asked if he would attend the May 17 protest, Murad replied: "I'll go, dead or alive."

Police said on Saturday they had acted on information about gunmen planning "terrorist acts" having "infiltrated" the country from a neighbouring state, without saying which. Explosions and heavy automatic gunfire rang out and black smoke rose above the town. Some residents left, carrying their belongings in bags.

Macedonia has previously identified armed men in the country as coming from neighbouring Kosovo, which is majority-Albanian and broke from Serbia in war in 1999.

An estimated 30 percent of Macedonia's 2 million people are ethnic Albanians. Guerrillas took up arms in 2001, clashing with security forces before the West brokered a peace deal offering the Albanian minority greater rights and representation and the insurgents entered government.

But implementation has been slow and tensions sometimes flare. Many citizens, regardless of ethnicity, are frustrated at the slow pace of development and integration with the West. Macedonia's bid to join the European Union and NATO is blocked by a long-running dispute with Greece over the country's name.