Karpalak ambush

Karpalak ambush
Part of the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia
Date8 August 2001
Location
Near Grupčin, on the SkopjeTetovo highway, Macedonia
41°58′39″N 21°10′12″E / 41.97750°N 21.17000°E / 41.97750; 21.17000
Result

NLA and ANA victory

Belligerents
National Liberation Army
Albanian National Army[1]
 Macedonia
Commanders and leaders
Unknown
Unknown
Army of the Republic of Macedonia Nane Naumoski 
Army of the Republic of Macedonia Sašo Kitanoski 
Units involved
Strength
Unknown Army of the Republic of Macedonia 120 reservists[2]
Casualties and losses
None
None
Army of the Republic of Macedonia 10 killed
Army of the Republic of Macedonia 3 wounded
Army of the Republic of Macedonia 1 truck destroyed
Army of the Republic of Macedonia 1 bus destroyed
A map of Macedonia showing the location of the ambush
A map of Macedonia showing the location of the ambush
Site of the ambush
Location within North Macedonia

The Karpalak ambush (Macedonian: Заседа кај Карпалак; Albanian: Pritë në Karpalak), referred to by Macedonians as the Karpalak massacre (Macedonian: Масакр кај Карпалак),[2] was an attack carried out by the National Liberation Army (NLA) against a convoy of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM) near the village of Grupčin on 8 August 2001 during the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia. Ten members of the ARM's Military Reserve Force, including two officers, were killed at Karpalak and three others were wounded. The ambush was the single deadliest incident of the conflict. It was speculated that the ambush was carried out in retaliation for a Macedonian police raid in Skopje, the day before in which five NLA insurgents were killed.

In the years following the ambush, the Macedonian government has commissioned several plaques commemorating the fallen reservists, which have become the frequent target of vandals. This has prompted complaints from veterans' organizations that the government has not done enough to ensure the reservists are properly commemorated.

  1. ^ "Macedonia - defense: Buckovski: "Let tragedy be the beginning of the end of the war"". Relief.web. 10 August 2001. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022. "ANA" CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR KILLING OF TEN MACEDONIAN SOLDIERS Skopje, August 10 - A new armed group of ethnic Albanians on Thursday claimed responsibility for the killing of ten Macedonian army reservists in a highway ambush a day earlier. The "Albanian National Army" (AKSH) e-mailed a statement to several media in the region, on Albanian-language, saying a combined unit of its fighters and of the so-called National Liberation Army (NLA) carried the attack out "in revenge" for the killing of five NLA members by Macedonian security forces.
  2. ^ a b c Bačikj, Mirko (8 August 2018). "17 години Карпалак – тага и непребол за 10-те загинати бранители на Македонија" [17 Years Since Karpalak: Sorrow and Grief for 10 Fallen Defenders of Macedonia]. Магазин (in Macedonian). Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.