Macedonia Politician ‘Escapes Murder Bid’

Tetovo _ Ali Ahmeti, the leader of Macedonia’s main Albanian opposition party, escaped an assassination bid on Monday, his party claims.

The apparent murder bid happened while Ahmeti, the leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, was campaigning for the June 1 snap polls at the village of Rakovec near the western Macedonian town of Tetovo, the party said at the press conference on late Monday.

“While we were inside the local party headquarters, we heard shooting. I asked my escorts to stay calm. After the shooting stopped I went towards my vehicle. The minute I entered the vehicle there was another rifle shot directly at the vehicle but fortunately I survived,” Ahmeti told media.

“The police have arrested Faruk Ilijazi from the village of Golema Recica under suspicion that he is involved in the shooting at the DUI vehicle,” police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told media on Tuesday.

He will be questioned for motives and for possible accomplices, Kotevski explained.

One bystander was wounded in the incident, local media report.

Ahmeti, earlier claimed the identity of the perpetrators was known to the police as well as to the party. He said he held the Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska and the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski responsible for not protecting him.

“We urge Macedonian authorities to investigate these incidents and to prosecute the perpetrators,” the official statement from the United States’ embassy in Macedonia read.

The embassy called on party leaders to honour their pledge for Free and Fair Elections. The polls are seen as an additional benchmark for the country’s European Union accession bid.

The election campaign which started on Sunday was accompanied by a series of incidents involving the killing of a reported DUI member, a hail of bullets fired at DUI party headquarters and the torching of a night club. Read more at http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/10079/

The DUI then accused their bitter political rival, the ruling Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA for orchestrating the incidents. The DPA denied any involvement.

The DUI has scheduled an anti-violence rally for Tuesday afternoon in the centre of Tetovo.