Kumanovo shootings

Kumanovo clashes
Date 9–10 May 2015 Location Kumanovo, Republic of Macedonia 42°08′09″N 21°43′05″E / 42.1358°N 21.7181°E / 42.1358; 21.7181 Result Suppression of the armed group by the Macedonian police and armed forces
Belligerents
Macedonian Police	Armed group (claiming to be the NLA)
Commanders and leaders
Gordana Jankuloska PM Nikola Gruevski Pres. Gjorge Ivanov	Mirsad Ndrecaj † Muhamed Krasniqi Sami Ukshini Beg Rizaj † Demë Shehu
Units involved
"Tigers" Special Operations Unit Rapid Deployment Unit	Unknown
Strength
Unknown	40
Casualties and losses
8 killed, 37 wounded	10 killed, 28 captured
18 killed in total
Location of Kumanovo in the Republic of Macedonia

A shootout which erupted during a police raid between police forces and an armed group identifying as the National Liberation Army (NLA) occurred on 9 May 2015 in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo. During the shootings, eight Macedonian policemen and 10 of the militants were killed, while 37 officers were wounded and hospitalized. The shooting ended on 10 May 2015, in an operation by the Macedonian police and armed forces, in which 28 men were arrested and charged with "terrorism-related charges" by the Macedonian authorities.

The event took place during a deep political crisis in Macedonia, dating back to the 2014 general elections. The main opposition party, Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, has been making allegations on electoral fraud, denounced the conservative VMRO-DPMNE's party victory and has boycotted the Macedonian Assembly since. Since early 2015, the Social Democratic leader, Zoran Zaev, came into possession of mass, illegal, wire-tap recordings allegedly orchestrated by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Zaev started releasing the so-called information "bombs," a series of wire-tapped conversations between the conservative government officials, most of them including Macedonia's prime minister Nikola Gruevski. In doing so, he has made allegations that Gruevski has ordered the wire-tapping of some 20,000 Macedonian citizens and having control over the court system in Macedonia.

In October 2014, the building of the Macedonian Government was attacked by two projectiles likely to have been fired from an RPG launcher. Around one week after the attack, a letter arrived at the Macedonian Albanian-language television station Alsat-M signed by a group claiming ties with the dissolved NLA taking responsibility for the attack. The NLA was also the main player in the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia. The document said that the Macedonian government is running a pro-Russian ideology, and that the NLA demands Macedonia join the European Union and NATO by all means.