May 11, 2015

KUMANOVO, Macedonia (AP) — An armed group battling Macedonian police over the weekend aimed to destabilize the country by attacking state buildings and public areas, the prime minister said Sunday. The attacks left at least 22 people dead, a top official said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski, who gave the death toll, called the attackers in the northern town of Kumanovo “terrorists.” He said police were still searching for other bodies but did not believe anyone from the armed group was still at large.

The 40 plus-strong group was targeting state institutions, sports events and shopping malls and was made up of well-trained fighters who had participated in attacks in the region and the Middle East, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told reporters in the capital of Skopje.

“One of the aims of the group, at least, was to destabilize Macedonia,” Gruevski added.

The fighting comes as Macedonia is grappling with its deepest political crisis since its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The government and the opposition have accused each other of planning to destabilize the country to take or preserve power, and some analysts fear leaders on both sides are ready to provoke ethnic clashes.

: Habibe Biyali stands inside a room in her house heavily damaged by fighting in Kumanovo, Macedonia, Monday, May 11, 2015. Residents are returning to their homes in a northern Macedonian town where a fierce weekend battle between special police units and alleged ethnic Albanian militants left 22 dead and at least 37 injured. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

: A boy walks through the rubble of a damaged house after fighting between Macedonian police and an armed group in the town of Kumanovo on May 11, 2015. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in northern Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: A bullet-riddled wall in a house following clashes between Macedonian police and an armed group in Kumanovo. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in north Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: A picture taken on May 10, 2015 shows a doll on the ground at the entrance to a destroyed house following clashes between Macedonian police and an armed group in Kumanovo. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in north Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: Men through bullet holes after clashes between Macedonian and an armed group in Kumanovo. Special police units pulled out of the northern Macedonian town early today where 22 people, including eight officers, were killed over the weekend in worst violence in the country since its 2001 inter-ethnic conflict. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: A dog wanders in the rubble of damaged houses after fighting between Macedonian police and an armed group in the town of Kumanovo on May 11, 2015. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in northern Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: A girl walks next to a damaged shop after fighting between Macedonian police and an armed group in the town of Kumanovo on May 11, 2015. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in northern Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: People stand in the rubble of damaged houses after fighting between Macedonian police and an armed group in the town of Kumanovo on May 11, 2015. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in northern Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: People walking in front of bullet riddled wall after fighting between Macedonian police and an armed group in the town of Kumanovo on May 11, 2015. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in northern Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: A young boy wearing a T-shirt with the colours of the Albanian flag stands next to a destroyed house after fighting between Macedonian and an armed group in Kumanovo, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Skopje, on May 11, 2015. Special police units pulled out of the northern Macedonian town early today where 22 people, including eight officers, were killed over the weekend in worst violence in the country since its 2001 inter-ethnic conflict. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: A man stands in the rubble of a damaged house after fighting between Macedonian police and an armed group in the town of Kumanovo on May 11, 2015. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in northern Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: A man walks by a car destroyed in clashes in Kumanovo, Macedonia, Monday, May 11, 2015. Residents are returning to their homes in a northern Macedonian town where a fierce weekend battle between special police units and alleged ethnic Albanian militants left 22 dead and at least 37 injured. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

: A boy walks in a destroyed building after fighting between Macedonian police and an armed group in the town of Kumanovo on May 11, 2015. Shooting broke out for a second day on May 10 in northern Macedonia as concern mounted in Europe after clashes between police and unidentified gunmen that erupted on May 9 at dawn in the restive Balkan nation left at least six officers dead along with some 30 injured. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: Habibe Biyali walks up a flight of stairs in her house heavily damaged by fighting in Kumanovo, Macedonia, Monday, May 11, 2015. Residents are returning to their homes in a northern Macedonian town where a fierce weekend battle between special police units and alleged ethnic Albanian militants left 22 dead and at least 37 injured. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

: Boys look through a hole inside a destroyed house after fighting between Macedonian and an armed group in Kumanovo, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Skopje, on May 11, 2015. Special police units pulled out of the northern Macedonian town early today where 22 people, including eight officers, were killed over the weekend in worst violence in the country since its 2001 inter-ethnic conflict. (AFP Photo/P /armend )

: A man and his family leave the conflict area near in Kumanovo on May 9, 2015 after clashes in which four policemen were injured. The clashes took place during a dawn police raid in a part of the town populated mainly by ethnic Albanians in what a spokesman described as an operation against an “armed group”, heightening fears of instability in the ex-Yugoslav republic after months of political crisis. (Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Images)

: A girl weeps after she was evacuated safely from the scene of an altercation involving the police, in northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo, on Saturday, May 9, 2015. Authorities in Macedonia say police have clashed with an armed terrorist group in this northern Macedonian town, and parts of the town have been sealed off. Macedonia’s state-run news agency MIA reported that four police officers were injured by gunfire, and three of them were taken to a hospital in the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

: People are evacuated safely from the scene of an altercation involving the police, in northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo, on Saturday, May 9, 2015. Authorities in Macedonia say police have clashed with an armed terrorist group in this northern Macedonian town, and parts of the town have been sealed off. Macedonia’s state-run news agency MIA reported that four police officers were injured by gunfire, and three of them were taken to a hospital in the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Violence in Macedonia

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