Roundup: Macedonia foils Kumanovo terror attack, concerns remain

Macedonian law enforcement forces have controlled overall security situation after an unidentified armed group attacked the country's northern town of Kumanovo last weekend, but public concerns still prevail.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov returned from an official visit to Moscow upon knowing the information about the attack in Kumanovo, and summoned a meeting of the highest ranking officials and chiefs of national security agencies on Sunday.

"They (the attackers) will pay a high price for what they tried to do to Macedonia. We will not allow the situation to escalate," Ivanov told reporters after the meeting.

He stressed that the security forces have received strict directions on how to act following the attack in order to prevent any additional risks to public security.

The fighting in Kumanovo ended on Sunday and the security forces managed to completely neutralize the armed group hiding in the town, Interior Ministry spokesperson Ivo Kotevski confirmed.

A total of eight policemen were killed and 37 others injured while they were trying to disarm and arrest members of the armed group, which the police said was planning terror attacks on state institutions and civilian targets in Macedonia.

"At the place of the operation we have already spotted 14 bodies of terrorists, but we don't exclude the possibility that the number of killed terrorist might be higher. Some of them were wearing uniforms with signs of the Kosovo Liberation Army," said Kotevski.

Another 30 members of the group surrendered and are being questioned by the authorities, he said.

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said that despite high casualties, the operation was carried out professionally and efficiently.

"The police established the operation's necessity and timing upon obtaining relevant information. Every postponement of this operation would have meant additional risks," Gruevski said in Skopje on Sunday, adding that the weekend were "the two most difficult days" in his life.

The purposes of the terrorists are still under investigation, but it is certain that one of their main goals was to destabilize Macedonia, Gruevski said.

Opposition leader Zoran Zaev participated in the meeting of the National Security Council, demanding the security services clarify who wants to destabilize Macedonia.

Macedonia's security has been threatened by an extremely dangerous group made up of extremists from conflicts in Kosovo, Macedonia and Syria, Macedonian security expert Zlatko Keskovski told Xinhua in Skopje.

With experience in Syria's conflict, the terrorist group is especially capable of combating in intensively populated areas, such as the town of Kumanovo.

"But the resolute action of the police has managed to successfully neutralize this group whose evident goal was to destabilize the country," Keskovski said.

In a joint statement released Sunday, the Macedonia-based missions of the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organization of Security and Cooperation for Europe and the United States have voiced their concerns over the events in Kumanovo, and called on all parties not to allow such incidents to hurt the Macedonian society.

According to the Macedonian police, the armed group was planning attacks on sports events, shopping malls and state institutions to cause civilian casualties and fears among the public. Endi