Vejce massacre

Vejce massacre
Part of Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia
Date 28 April 2001 Location Between Selce and Vejce in the Šar Mountains Result The military conflict becomes more intense; Macedonia on the verge of a war
Belligerents
Macedonia Wolves Police Unit Bitola	UÇK
Commanders and leaders
Boris Trajkovski Pande Petrovski Robert Petkovski  † Mile Janevski  † Igor Kosteski  † Boban Trajkovski  †	Ali Ahmeti Ismaili Shinasi - Komandant Hoxha Ceka Iljas - Kjori Ceka Bilal - Brada
Strength
Patrol of 16 Macedonian Special Forces	25 - 50 National Liberation Army
Casualties and losses
8 massacred, 7 killed by gunfire	no fatalities, 1 wounded

The Vejce massacre (Macedonian: Масакрот кај Вејце) was one of the most brutal massacres in the modern history of the Republic of Macedonia and during the 2001 Insurgency. The massacre took place on the late afternoon of 28 April 2001 near Vejce, a village in the Šar Mountains. It was committed by Albanian extremists of the National Liberation Army (UÇK).^[1]

Massacre

View of the village Vejce on the Šar Mountains.

In an ambush, prepared between the villages Selce and Vejce, the Albanian insurgents attacked the patrol of 16 Special Forces, among them eight members from the Special Forces BSN Volci and eight members of the Macedonian Police. Eight members of the Macedonian Special Forces and Police were killed in the ambush. The victims were captured by the insurgents, executed, mutilated, and burned alive.^[2]

The autopsy demonstrated that only one member of the Macedonian security forces was killed in the first attack of the Albanian insurgents. The others were tortured and then set on fire. At the site of the crime, there were found missiles of automatic rifles, rocket launchers, knives and a gun.^[3]

News of the deaths sparked local riots against ethnic-Albanians in several towns and cities across Macedonia, included burning and vandalising shops and mosques.

References

1. "8 soldiers slain in ambush near Albanian region". Chicago Tribune. 29 April 2001. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
2. "White book on the terrorist attack of so called NLA". Dnevnik.mk. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
3. "The Vejce massacre". de.scribd.com (in Macedonian). Makedonsko Sonce. Retrieved 5 February 2015.