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Macedonian Police Commander Killed In Gunfight

10 09 2007  Skopje_ A Macedonian police commander was shot dead and two policemen injured in a shootout in an ethnic Albanian populated area near the village of Vaksince in the country's north-east, police said on Monday.

Police sources said the shooting occurred shortly after midnight on Monday when a police patrol came under attack from an armed gunman whose identity has yet to be confirmed.
 
The victim, Fatmir Alili, 49, commander of the police station in the village of Matejce, died on his way to hospital, police sources said. Two other officers were wounded but in a stable condition.
 
Local media reports said the police killed at least one of the gunmen in the clash and wounded another.

Police in neighbouring Kosovo meanwhile said they had detained the wounded gunman and identified him as Zaim Halili, nephew of a convicted terrorist, Xhemail Iseini, who escaped from prison in Macedonia last month and was re-arrested two weeks ago.
 
At the time, Halili had publicly vowed to take revenge unless Iseini was released. Some local media have claimed the killed gunman may have been a brother of Iseini's.  
 
Macedonia's parliament postponed scheduled activities to hold an emergency session to discuss events in Vaksince "and their effect on the country's security situation".