Brest attack

The National Liberation Army (NLA) committed an attack near the village of Brest on 9 March 2001 during the insurgency in Macedonia.^[10][6] The NLA ambushed a Macedonian convoy, after they were defeated and forced to withdraw by KFOR troops in the village of Tanuševci.

Brest attack
Part of the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia
Date 9 March 2001 Location Brest, Čučer-Sandevo, Macedonia Result NLA victory Territorial changes NLA captures Molino and Brest[1][2]
Belligerents
National Liberation Army	Macedonia
Commanders and leaders
Xhezair Shaqiri[3] Nazmi Sulejmani[4]	Ljube Boškoski[5] Refet Elmazi[6] Aleksandar Dončev[5]
Units involved
113th Brigade "Ismet Jashari"[7]	Ministry of Interior[6] Macedonian Police Special Support Unit[5] Macedonian Army Special Operations Regiment[8]
Strength
30+ militants (police estimate)[5]	100 policemen[9]
Casualties and losses
1 militant killed[6]	1 policemen killed[10][5][11][6]

Attack

After the Tanuševci operation, a Macedonian police convoy was sent to establish presence near the border to Kosovo and to try to prevent an Albanian insurgency by the NLA from taking hold in the area, but found itself trapped in an ambush by the NLA in 9 March.^[12][13] The officials trapped were deputy interior minister Refet Elmazi, state secretary of the ministry of internal affairs Ljube Boškoski and Macedonian police general Aleksandar Dončev. According to Macedonian police estimates, there were around 30 insurgents.^[5] Immediately after the ambush an hour-long battle involving artillery and heavy mortars erupted, after which most of the Macedonian convoy managed to escape.^[12][6] The fighting left one dead from the Macedonian security forces.^[5][10][14] After the firefight the NLA established control in Molino and Brest and the insurgency spread to wider parts of the country.^[15][16]

Aftermath

While the Macedonian convoy was able to break through the ambush, they were forced to seal off the village.^[17][10] The NLA took control of Molino and Brest, and the insurgency spread to wider parts in Macedonia.^{[12][9][10][5]}

According to the Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the main motive behind the attack by the NLA was their resentment over the Ministry's establishment of cooperation with the local population, among whom there were those who volunteered to work in the planned reserve police stations.^[5]