Clashes in Macedonia leave 8 police officers dead

(Vatican Radio) Ethnic tensions are rising in the Republic of Macedonia where security forces and an armed group have been fighting in the northern town of Kumanovo amid a rising death toll. Government officials say eight police officers and fourteen gunmen have been killed in the fighting. Some 30 are known to have been injured in an exchange of fire between special police forces and the reportedly armed ethnic Albanian fighters that started in the area Saturday.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report: 

The Macedonian government had declared two days of mourning for those killed, cancelling sport events and political gatherings, but there was little time to mourn Sunday as the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo was once again rocked by explosions.

Officials said over 20 members of the armed group have surrendered, but Interior minister Gordana Jankulovska told reporters that others refused to give up arms and that they were holed up in houses in Diva Naselba, a neighborhood in western Kumanovo.

The violence comes as the Balkan nation is facing its deepest political crisis since its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The government and opposition have accused each other of using ethnic tensions to destabilize the country to take or preserve power.

ETHNICALLY MIXED TOWN

Kumanovo is an ethnically mixed town located about 40 kilometres northeast of the capital Skopje, near the border with Kosovo and Serbia.

The region was the centre of hostilities between ethnic Albanian rebels and government forces during the ethnic conflict in 2001. Ethnic Albanians, who comprise a quarter of Macedonia's 2 million people, took up arms in 2001 demanding more rights and autonomy. The conflict ended after six months with a western-brokered peace deal that granted more rights to the minority group, though tensions remain.

However the latest fighting came after thousands of Macedonian opposition supporters joined nationwide protests against police brutality, amid reports that the conservative government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has been tapping phones of 20.000 people.

Opposition leader Zoran Zaev, citing illegally recorded conversations, also accused the government of trying to cover up the 2011 police killing of a 22-year-old man. 

On Tuesday, clashes between anti-government protesters and police in the capital Skopje left dozens of officers and at least one demonstrator injured.