Macedonia policemen killed in battle with armed group

Baku. 10 May. REPORT.AZ/ Five police officers died and more than 30 were wounded in an operation against gunmen in an ethnic Albanian area of northern Macedonia, Report informs citing foreign media, Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska says. 

Jankulovska told a news conference on Saturday that some of the gunmen had been killed, without saying how many.

She said police had no information about possible civilian casualties during a day-long gun battle in a suburb of the northern town of Kumanovo.

It remains unclear what has happened to the armed group, believed to number at least 30, amid reports that most of them have surrendered.

Kumanovo is an ethnically mixed town located about 40km northeast of the capital Skopje, near the border with Kosovo and Serbia.

The Kumanovo region saw hostilities between ethnic Albanian rebels and government forces during ethnic conflict in 2001.

The rebels were demanding greater rights for the ethnic Albanian minority. This incident came a day after thousands of opposition supporters joined nationwide protests against alleged police brutality.