Kumanovo

Relatives of the ethnic Albanian men held in Macedonian prisons in connection with the bloody shootout in Kumanovo a year ago are asking diplomats and foreign organisation to support their claim that the prisoners have been tortured.

Demonstrators took to the streets of Skopje for yet another evening to call for the resignation of President Gjorge Ivanov, but also demanding he reverse a blanket amnesty for 56 politicians over a case of massive wiretapping.

Bulgaria will deliver humanitarian assistance to refugees and migrants at Tabanovce transit center near Kumanovo in neighbouring  Macedonia on Thursday, the government in Sofia has said.

The aid consisting of mineral water and food supplies has been provided by the Bulgarian Red Cross and Bulgarian companies, the government press office said in a statement.

All 29 men accused of being part of or helping the armed group that clashed with police in ethnically-mixed Kumanovo in May this year told the Skopje court on Monday that they were not terrorists.

The ethnic Albanian suspects denied the charges and said the bloody two-day shootout was a result of them defending themselves from the police.

Seven individuals were arrested in Kumanovo suspected of aiding a criminal-terrorist group in the May clashes in the village of Divo.

Seven individuals were arrested within a comprehensive police action in the city of Kumanovo, Macedonia, and its vicinity on Thursday, all of whom are suspected of aiding a criminal-terrorist group in the May clashes in the village of Divo.

In the operation launched on Thursday morning in villages close to the Kosovo border, police arrested at least five people suspected of providing logistical help to the armed ethnic Albanian group that fought a bloody battle with security forces in Kumanovo in northern Macedonia in May.

A migrant injured in an accident on the Tabanovci-Kumanovo railway in Macedonia has died, the Interior Ministry in Skopje has said.

The victim passed away on the way to the emergency medical center in Skopje.

Police conf irmed on Thursday that they have arrested nine people suspected of having links with Islamic State during raids in Skopje's districts of Gazi Baba and Cair, as well as in the towns of Tetovo, Struga, Kumanovo and Gostivar.

Macedonia's Interior Ministry has launched a special operation to arrest alleged Islamic State (IS) members.

One person was killed and another injured on Tuesday in an armed attack in the Divo neighborhood of the town of Kumanovo, Macedonia.

Tanjug is quoting TV Alfa as reporting that the victims are a man and his son, and that the suspect in the case has been named as B.N., who comes from Kosovo.