MACEDONIA: SOURCES SAY GROUP OF FORMER NLA MEMBERS PLANTED KUMANOVO MINE
MTV1 - March 7, 2003

Stefkovska According to the operational information obtained from the ground, a criminal group consisting of several members and operating in the area surrounding Sopot and Susevo villages planted the explosive device that blew up the NATO jeep, Interior Ministry officials have said unofficially. The Interior Ministry representatives working on the ground have findings according to which renegade individuals of the former National Liberation Army ONA - UCK in Albanian; NLA in English , who were active during the crisis, are in question. We have learned from sources involved in the investigation that the local population has also noted their presence in the area. One of the individuals that the local population has suspicions about is a former ONA commander, who - according to the Susevo residents - appeared sporadically in his native Sopot and often used the illegal border crossings to enter Kosovo...

There is speculation that the villages in the region are host to the accomplices and the logistical support of the perpetrators. There is also a possibility that the latter may have fled to Kosovo or southern Serbia via the nearby illegal crossings...

Source: MTV1, Skopje, in Macedonian 1700 gmt 6 Mar 03

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