30 charged with 'terrorism' over deadly Macedonia shooting

Thirty alleged gunmen were charged today with terror offences after a bloody shootout with Macedonian police which left 22 dead, including eight police officers, and dozens of homes destroyed in a town close to the border with Kosovo.
The clashes in Kumanovo at the weekend were the worst in Macedonia for 14 years, and raised fears of a fresh conflict similar to the country's 2001 ethnic conflict.
But the opposition and analysts suggested the timing of the violence with the government under huge pressure over a series of alleged misdemeanours was suspicious.
In the district where the shootout took place, several dozen houses and around a dozen small narrow streets populated by both Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, signs of large-scale destruction were everywhere to be seen.

Cars and houses were destroyed, with some completely burned down, and a large amount of debris lay on the ground, while broken windows and bullet holes were visible on almost every house in the district.
Burning could still be smelled midday today in the area as dozens of people who had fled their homes started to return, while some from other parts of Kumanovo came to see what had happened.

Basti Ramadan, a 77-year old Albanian, stood in despair in front of his house, whose roof and upper floor were burned down. Cartridge cases were scattered around the entrance of the house.

"I was awaken by grenades early on Saturday morning. I immediately went to the basement with my family and we hid there until police came in the evening," Ramadan told AFP.
Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski claimed a "particularly dangerous terrorist group" of ethic Albanians had been planning a major attack in the Balkan country.
Eighteen of the 30 men charged were ethnic Albanians from neighbouring Kosovo, the prosecutor said. Leaders of the breakaway territory's top leaders condemned "any involvement" of Kosovans in the deadly shootings.
The incident came less then three weeks after around 40 Kosovo Albanians briefly seized control of a police station on Macedonia's northern border, demanding the creation of an Albanian state in Macedonia.