Macedonia: Innocents killed to impress U.S.

By Konstantin Testorides
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most e-mailed articles

SKOPJE, Macedonia — Macedonian police gunned down seven innocent immigrants, then claimed they were terrorists, in a killing staged to show they were participating in the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism, authorities said yesterday.

Police spokeswoman Mirjana Konteska said six people — three former police commanders, two special police officers and a businessman — had been charged by police with murder. A prominent former cabinet member is suspected of arranging the killings.

"That was an act of a sick mind," Konteska said. "They ... ordered the brutal murder of the seven Pakistani men."

Konteska said a two-year investigation uncovered a meticulous plan to promote Macedonia as a player in the fight against global terrorism, an attempt to "present themselves as participants in the war against terrorism and demonstrate Macedonia's commitment to the war on terror."

Since breaking away from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has been eager to win U.S. political and economic support in its search for acceptance into the Western camp of nations. It has been a close U.S. ally in the Balkans and sent troops to Iraq.

The so-called "Rastanski Lozja" action was carried out in March 2002 by special Macedonian police who claimed to have eliminated a terrorist group allegedly plotting to attack international embassies and representatives in Macedonia.

Konteska said that the seven Pakistani men were in fact illegal immigrants who were lured into Macedonia by promises that they would be transferred to Western Europe.

Konteska said police generals Goran Stojkov and Boban Utkovski and senior police official Aleksandar Cvetkovski were among the six arrested.

In addition, a parliamentary committee voted yesterday to lift the immunity to prosecution held by Ljuba Boskovski as a legislator. Boskovski, who headed the police during Macedonia's 2001 ethnic conflict, was interior minister when the Pakistanis were killed.
 
Boskovski, who had not been arrested as of last night, said he expected to be charged, but denied the allegations, telling reporters he and his associates received a tip about the alleged Pakistani terrorists from unidentified "American intelligence officers."

At the time, senior police officials said the seven men were killed after a police patrol was ambushed. Police claimed that assault rifles, hand grenades and ammunition were found near a van used by the Pakistanis. Their bodies were filmed with handguns stuck in their waistbands.

Konteska said a forensic and ballistic investigation confirmed the action was staged.

She said the plan to set up the Pakistanis and kill them was made by top police officials in February 2002, when the seven men were brought into the country from Bulgaria and housed in Skopje, the capital.

On March 3, they were taken by police to Rastanski Lozja, about three miles northeast of Skopje, and gunned down by special police, Konteska said. "They lost their lives in a staged murder," she said.

After the killings, the U.S. Embassy released a statement that said U.S. personnel were "not aware of any indication that there was a specific threat" to the embassy. Within months, there were media reports that an FBI investigation had determined the men were not terrorists.

In what was believed to be retaliation for the deaths, Macedonia's consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, was rocked by a bomb blast on Dec. 5, 2002.

Pakistani investigators found the bodies of three Pakistanis inside — two men and a woman — each with their hands and feet bound and their throats slit. Messages scrawled on a wall referred to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group and warned against "infidels."

Neither the U.S. nor Pakistani governments had an immediate response to the arrests.

Material from Reuters is included in this report.