Battle of Vaksince

Battle of Vaksince
Part of the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia
Date3 May 2001 6 June 2001
Location
Result NLA victory
Territorial
changes
  • NLA captured Vaksince on 3 May 2001
  • Macedonian forces initially regained control over Vaksince on 26 May 2001
  • NLA recaptured parts of the village on 28 May, but still the majority of the village was under government control
  • NLA militants finally recaptured the village on 6 June
Belligerents
Macedonia National Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Boris Trajkovski
Pande Petrovski
Ljube Boškoski
Fadil Nimani 
Nazim Bushi
Naim Alili
Nazmi Sulejmani
Hajrulla Misini
Units involved
Strength
2 Mi-24 helicopters
3 T-55 tanks
50 militants
Casualties and losses
2 soldiers killed
4 soldiers wounded
1 soldier captured
2 militants killed
1 seriously wounded
12,000 ethnic Albanian civilians displaced
9,500 fled to Kosovo
2,500 fled to Serbia

A military engagement between the Macedonian security forces and Albanian insurgents belonging to the NLA occurred in the village of Vaksince, which was at the time launching a campaign of guerrilla attacks against facilities of the Macedonian Government, the Macedonian Police force, and the Macedonian Armed Forces.