Tearce attack

Macedonia, located between Kosovo and Serbia, remained uninvolved in the prolonged conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s. Despite occasional tensions, inter-ethnic relations between the Slav majority and ethnic Albanian minority in Macedonia did not escalate to the extent seen in Kosovo between Albanians and Serbs. Since gaining independence in 1991, ethnic Albanian political parties have been part of the Macedonian government and parliament. However, in early 2001, a group of ethnic Albanian rebels known as the National Liberation Army (NLA) increased attacks on Macedonian security forces. Initially, the attacks occurred in villages near Tetovo and along the western border with Kosovo, and later near the capital city of Skopje.[4]

The attack took place on January 22, 2001, on a Monday at 2:00 AM in the village of Tearce which is inhabited largely by ethnic Albanians.[5] In this attack, three NLA militants armed with a Chinese Type 69 RPG and two Kalashnikovs attacked a Macedonian police station in Tearce. The militants killed the policeman Momir Stojanovski in the attack, who was killed by the RPG grenade, while three other policemen were seriously injured.[6][7] The injuries are believed to have been sustained from the two grenades fired at the station.[8]

The NLA took the responsibility of the attack. After the Attack in Tearce, the village was held by the NLA.[9]

Macedonian police have said the four Albanians charged on January 30 with the grenade attack on the Tearce police station in which an ethnic Macedonian policeman was killed had acted independently. "These extreme radical individuals are not part of an organised group," said police spokesman Stevo Pendarovski.[10]

The attack in Tearce was the first attack in the conflict and marked a turning point in the conflict in Macedonia. The clashes directly led to the nine-month-long armed insurgency in Macedonia. Several days later, Albanians in the conflict areas were arrested and the NLA and Macedonian police engaged in an hour-long Battle in Tanuševci on the Kosovar-Macedonian border.