Title: Pakistanis believed killed in Macedonia
Author:  
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: Mar 3, 2002
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/030302/dLFOR30.asp

PTI
Washington, March 3

Seven suspected foreign militants, believed to be Pakistanis, were shot dead in Macedonia when they ambushed a police patrol, media reports said.

The dead men were "probably Pakistanis" and had been planning attacks on vital installatons and embassies in capital Skopje, Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski was quoted as saying.

"These attacks were aimed primarily at top officials and embassies in Skopje, in particular the embassies of the United States, Britain and Germany," an official said.

The men, armed with hand grenades and rocket-launchers, were killed when they opened fire on a police patrol yesterday in Rastanski Lozja, near the village of Ljuboten, the reports said.

The incident was linked to the previously unannounced arrest late February of two Jordanians and two Bosnians who were planning attacks on the US, British and German embassies in Skopje.

Predominantly Christian Macedonia has a Muslim population of Albanian origin which is demanding an independent state.

The Ljuboten region was the site of heavy fighting last year between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.