Macedonian police said Thursday that Islamist terror attacks had been foiled in the Balkan country as they announced the arrest of two citizens in a wider regional crackdown.
Mitko Cavkov, chief of public security, did not give details of the planned attacks, but his announcement followed reports of another strike planned at an Albanian football stadium this weekend during a match against Israel.
Since Saturday, 13 people have been arrested in neighbouring Albania and Kosovo accused of plotting attacks and recruiting for the Islamic State (IS) group.
Macedonia said one of its citizens had been arrested in Kosovo on Tuesday and another was detained in Skopje.
Their alleged aim was "to commit terrorist acts on Macedonian territory," said Cavkov.
"We have intelligence that shows these people are radical Islamists" with links to the IS group, he told reporters.
Albanian football officials said Tuesday that the country's 2018 World Cup qualifier with Israel on Saturday would be moved to a different stadium for "security reasons".
Local media said four of those arrested in the crackdown were planning an attack during the match, while a source at the Israel Football Association said they had also been told about the "possibility of a terror attack".
A quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million inhabitants are ethnic Albanian, most of them Muslim, while the rest of the population are predominantly Orthodox Slavs.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has previously said that an estimated 150 Macedonian citizens had left to fight in Iraq and Syria, of whom 86 returned and 30 were killed.
Macedonian police said Thursday that Islamist terror attacks had been foiled in the Balkan country as they announced the arrest of two citizens in a wider regional crackdown.
Mitko Cavkov, chief of public security, did not give details of the planned attacks, but his announcement followed reports of another strike planned at an Albanian football stadium this weekend during a match against Israel.
Since Saturday, 13 people have been arrested in neighbouring Albania and Kosovo accused of plotting attacks and recruiting for the Islamic State (IS) group.
Macedonia said one of its citizens had been arrested in Kosovo on Tuesday and another was detained in Skopje.
Their alleged aim was “to commit terrorist acts on Macedonian territory,” said Cavkov.
“We have intelligence that shows these people are radical Islamists” with links to the IS group, he told reporters.
Albanian football officials said Tuesday that the country’s 2018 World Cup qualifier with Israel on Saturday would be moved to a different stadium for “security reasons”.
Local media said four of those arrested in the crackdown were planning an attack during the match, while a source at the Israel Football Association said they had also been told about the “possibility of a terror attack”.
A quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million inhabitants are ethnic Albanian, most of them Muslim, while the rest of the population are predominantly Orthodox Slavs.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has previously said that an estimated 150 Macedonian citizens had left to fight in Iraq and Syria, of whom 86 returned and 30 were killed.
