The History Guy:

Kosovo News 03.07.01

Home | Civics & Politics | Military History | New & Recent Conflicts | Historical Personalities | Email | What's New | About Us | Site Map

 The following press release is from the U.S. Department of Defense on the shooting between American troops and Albanian rebels in Kosovo and Macedonia in March 2001.

 

Other links are at the bottom of this page.

By Gerry J. Gilmore

American Forces Press Service

 

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2001 -- U.S. troops traded fire today

with gunmen near the border town of Mijak, Kosovo, and

wounded two, DoD officials said. No American soldiers were

hurt in the exchange.

 

A group of U.S. soldiers responded with small-arms fire to

threatening maneuvers by four armed men, DoD officials

said. Three men were captured and one escaped.

 

About 150 U.S. soldiers on peacekeeping duty in Kosovo are

patrolling the Serbian province's border with the Former

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for Albanian guerrilla

forces seeking to destabilize the region, DoD officials

said.

 

Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley had told

reporters in an afternoon briefing March 6 that American

troops had moved closer to the Kosovo-FYROM border and

"increased their visibility, increased the activity of

their surveillance patrols along the border there, all with

the goal of trying to restore a sense of calm and to stop

the actions by the extremists."

 

The area has experienced week-long violence. Insurgents

killed three Macedonian soldiers in border fighting over

the weekend, according to press reports. Officials noted

that ethnic Albanians comprise about a quarter of

Macedonia's 2 million population and some 90 percent of

Kosovo's.

 

U.N. peacekeeping forces have been stationed in the Kosovo

region for the past few years. FYROM officials asked NATO

to help quell the unrest, which has been occurring in a

rugged, mountainous area.

 

"It is not a 'tight' border by anyone's description,"

Quigley said. U.S. forces would remain on the Kosovo side,

he said. American forces have arrested some insurgents and

uncovered arms caches in recent days, according to news

reports.

 

Related Site of Interest:

DOD News Briefing, March 6, 2001--Scroll down about two-thirds of this page to find information on the Kosovo border.

 

 Sources

 

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2001/n03072001_200103073.html

Macedonia Rebel's Agenda--BBC news analysis.

 


Please cite this source when appropriate:

Lee, R. "The History Guy: Kosovo News"

http://www.historyguy.com/kosovo_news_030701.htm  (2000).


Copyright © 2001 Roger A. Lee; Last Modified: 06/06/01