VZCZCXRO3522
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSQ #0736/01 2540615
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 110615Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY SKOPJE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6501
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE 0024
RHMFIUU/CDR TF FALCON
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHPS/USOFFICE PRISTINA 4337
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUESEN/SKOPJE BETA
RUEHSQ/USDAO SKOPJE MK
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000736 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE (PFEUFFER) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC MK PGOV PREL KV
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: POLICE CHIEF KILLED IN FIREFIGHT WITH 
FUGITIVE NEAR KOSOVO BORDER 
 
 
SUMMARY 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) A local police station chief was killed, and two of 
his colleagues wounded, 
in a September 10 firefight with an ethnic Albanian fugitive 
and his accomplices near 
the village of Vaksince, near the Kosovo border.  It is not 
clear whether the fugitive 
and his accomplices ambushed the police, or whether the 
incident developed out of a 
botched police attempt to arrest the fugitive, who is wanted 
on murder charges and 
and charges of threatening Prime Minister Gruevski.  The 
fugitive, who was 
wounded in the firefight and whose brother was killed during 
the incident, 
is in a Pristina hospital under KPS guard.  Both UNMIK and 
the KPS are coordinating with 
Macedonian authorities to effect his eventual return to face 
justice in Macedonia. 
We will continue to convey to the MOI the need to act with 
restraint in dealing 
with the residents of Vaksince as they pursue an 
investigation into the incident. 
End summary. 
 
 
POLICE STATION COMMANDER KILLED IN FIREFIGHT WITH FUGITIVE 
 
¶2. (SBU) MOI Director of Police Todorovski informed our DOJ 
rep September 10 that the ethnic Albanian police station 
commander of the village of Matejce had been killed -- and 
two other police officers wounded -- during a firefight early 
that morning with an ethnic Albanian fugitive, Zaim Halili, 
and several accomplices near the town of Vaksince, close to 
the Kosovo border. According to Todorovski, Halili (the 
nephew of Xhemail Hiseni, aka Commander Jamie Shea, who was 
recently rearrested after escaping from Idrizovo prison) was 
wounded in the stomach and leg, but escaped to Kosovo.  An 
accomplice, Skender Halili (Zaim Halili's brother) was also 
killed in the firefight, as confirmed by OSCE and Halili's 
family.  The MOI also reports that another accomplice, 
Xheladin Hiseni, a relative of Xhemail Hiseni, was killed, 
but that claim has not been confirmed. 
¶3. (SBU) Later reports from UNMIK indicated that Halili or an 
accomplice contacted UNMIK for urgent medical aid, and was 
transported for treatment to a hospital in Pristina in an 
ambulance summoned by UNMIK personnel.  He currently is under 
KPS guard at the hospital.  The KPS and UNMIK are working 
with Macedonian authorities to return Halili, once he 
recovers, to Macedonia, where there is an international 
warrant for his arrest on attempted murder charges unrelated 
to the September 10 firefight.  MOI officials are preparing a 
second warrant for his arrest on charges in the September 10 
incident. 
 
AMBUSHED POLICE PATROL? OR ACTION TO ARREST HALILI? 
 
¶4. (SBU) According to the MOI, the police chief and his 
partners were sitting in their patrol car during a routine 
patrol of the Vaksince area shortly after midnight on 
September 10.  A vehicle approached the police car, passed 
it, then halted.  The car then reversed direction and, as it 
approached the police vehicle, the occupants opened fire on 
the police.  The police chief exited the vehicle and returned 
fire.  During the ensuing gun battle, the police chief and 
Skender Halili were killed; the two other police officers, 
both ethnic Macedonians, were wounded. An OSCE field monitor 
who examined the car in which Halili and his accomplices had 
been riding reported "some 50 or more bullet entry/exit 
points" in the vehicle. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Contradicting the MOI version of events, both the 
Mayor of Lipkovo (from the ethnic Albanian opposition DUI 
party) and DUI leaders claimed to international community 
representatives that Halili was shot when police opened fire 
during an operation to arrest him.  NOTE: Halili was also 
wanted in Macedonia for threatening to abduct the Prime 
 
SKOPJE 00000736  002 OF 002 
 
 
Minister and to kill DPA President Menduh Thaci following the 
successful police operation in which his uncle Xhemail Hiseni 
was recaptured after escaping from Idrizovo prison.  END 
NOTE. 
 
NEXT STEPS 
 
¶6. (SBU) Later in the day on September 10, police cordoned 
off the village of Vaksince in an attempt to secure evidence 
at the scene of the crime.  OSCE field staff, however, 
reported that villagers there would not allow police to enter 
the area, and the MOI told us that Skender Halili's family 
refused to release the vehicle to the MOI for forensics 
testing, despite an appeal from the ethnic Albanian Deputy 
MOI.  The MOI is now seeking OSCE's assistance in persuading 
the family to release the vehicle. 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) For now, it is not clear whether the firefight was 
the result of an intentional ambush by Halili and his 
accomplices against the police patrol, a chance encounter 
that erupted into gunfire, or a police operation against 
Halili gone bad.  With tempers in Vaksince flaring over the 
death of Skender Halili, we have stressed to the MOI the 
importance of acting with restraint in the coming days to 
avoid an escalation of the violence.  We will continue to 
convey that message to our MOI counterparts, while supporting 
the eventual return of Halili to Macedonia to face justice in 
the police chief's death.  End Comment. 
NAVRATIL