Ethnic Albanian rebels of the National Liberation Army killed five soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia on 5 June 2001 near

Gajre Gajre ( mk, Гајре, sq, Gajre) is a village in the municipality of Tetovo, North Macedonia. History According to the 1467-68 Ottoman defter, Gajre (then known as Garje or Gara) appears as being largely inhabited by an Orthodox Christian Alban ...

, a village in the Šar Mountains, North Macedonia. It represents one of the heaviest death tolls for the government forces in a single incident during the Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia.

Ambush

The hills above Tetovo in northwestern Macedonia were subject to fierce fighting. According to Macedonian army officials, three of the soldiers died during an ambush as they were escorting medics to help six wounded men (consisting of three police officers and three soldiers) wounded in clashes that broke out that day. Additional two soldiers were killed while making a food delivery. The killed soldiers were an ethnic Albanian army sergeant, an ethnic Macedonian soldier from

Strumica Strumica ( mk, Струмица, ) is the largest city2002 census results
in English and Macedon ...

and three ethnic Macedonian reservists from

Bitola Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...

Aftermath

Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski called for a state of war to be declared against the rebels. In 2010, a memorial plaque was placed along the road to Popova Šapka to honor the killed soldiers. The plaque was destroyed in 2021.

References

{{coord missing, Albania, North Macedonia Attacks in Europe in 2001 2001 insurgency in Macedonia Tetovo Municipality June 2001 events in Europe Ambushes in Europe Massacres in North Macedonia