2001 insurgency in Macedonia
The 2001 insurgency in 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.
2001 insurgency in Macedonia | |||||||
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Part of the Yugoslav Wars | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
National Liberation Army Albanian National Army | Republic of Macedonia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ali Ahmeti Gëzim Ostreni Xhezair Shaqiri Avdil Jakupi Jakup Asipi Jetullah Qarri Hajrulla Misini |
Boris Trajkovski Pande Petrovski Ljubčo Georgievski Jovan Andrevski Ljube Boškoski Dosta Dimovska Vlado Bučkovski Ljuben Paunovski | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2,000–3,000 (beginning of the war) 6,000 – 7,000 militants Unknown |
20,000 soldiers and policemen 60 T-55 tanks 4 Su-25 aircraft 4 Mi-24 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
64–105 militants killed |
63–77 soldiers and policemen killed 1 tank and 2 APCs captured 1 tank and 1 APC destroyed 1 Mi-17 crashed | ||||||
90 civilians killed
150–250 total dead and 1,000 total casualties |