A ‘Straight-A’ student from Kumanovo died for ISIS

An 18-year-old girl from Kumanovo was killed while fighting for the terrorist “Islamic State” (ISIS). She is the latest victim from this country that lost her life on the battlefields of the Middle East. So far, over thirty Macedonian citizens have been killed in Syria and Iraq. About 150 went to fight for ISIS, of which seventy returned and are a time bomb, despite the fact that the clashes there or suicide attacks in Europe are no longer as intense as they were until a year or two ago, when the strength of Islamists was at a higher level.

T The news about the death of the Kumanovo teenager Z.K., was confirmed by her closest relatives. She went to Syria when she was under 16 years of age, which was a huge surprise to everyone who knew her, given that she came from the family of a known businessman, was a ‘straight A’ student, and never showed signs of radical behavior. The services presume that she was recruited from older citizens of Kumanovo, returnees from Syria, as well as through social networks, where mass mobilization was carried out at the time.

“Mainly they recruit young and poor people, who do not see any perspective in their own country, are not educated, have no families, or have trouble with the law, alcohol, drugs … They are intoxicate them with fanaticism and promise a better life for them, for their families, as well as in heaven, after death. But there are also exceptions when well-standing families give up the local Islamic religious community and cross over to mosques under the authority of the imams that preach by the ideals of the radicals,” asserted members of the security services.

There is no official data about how many Macedonian citizens went to fight for ISIS, and it cannot exist because they do not report it, having in mind that participation in foreign armies and formations is punishable by law, but most often they regularly travel to Istanbul, where they are met and transferred over the border. Professor of the Faculty of Security, Zlate Dimovski, says that, according to the data obtained from foreign services, it is a figure of approximately 145 people.

“Of those 145, about 70 have returned to Macedonia and should be carefully monitored. They were heavily armed and strongly indoctrinated, so it all depends on how they will experience the real situation in the country because, under the influence of their environment, they can at any moment express their extremism and radicalism, especially if they feel victimized, or cannot adapt in our system,” explains Dimovski.

Security experts warn that the “triples”, “quintuples”, and “septuplets”, that is, groups that operate in those numbers of people, are the biggest danger to European countries. These are “frozen” terrorist cells, people who are among us, whose behavior is not different from ours, who are actually trained to commit attacks when they receive a directive for it. They are trained and ready to activate when least expected. According to the way they work, they first record the terrain, observe faces, build logistical support and as soon as they complete all preparations – they carry out the attack. They are formed in smaller groups so they can be more flexible, more dynamic, and communicate with each other easier. They are seamlessly organized, they only contact one person of the higher circles who, on the other hand, do not know those who are above him. Communication is done in codes, using pseudonyms or nicknames, as well as “trampling” speech, so even if monitored by the services, it is difficult to recognize them.

After the Islamists’ loss of power and the weakening of the so-called ” “Islamic State”, the active participation of Macedonian citizens was reduced, therefore news of their death on the battlefields is less present. According to security services estimates, 30 to 35 of our fellow citizens have died so far. Many of them are buried there, that is, their bodies are not returned to the country. The first victim was recorded at the end of May 2013, when a 28-year-old resident of the Gostivar village Belovista was killed.

A number of international services and institutions reported over the past years that the Balkans are a recruiting center for jihadists, pointing out that more than a thousand radical Islamists are currently operating within ISIS. According to their data, four mosques in Skopje are under the influence of the Wahhabis, which, along with several other mosques in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, are considered the source of jihadism in the Balkans. ISIS has repeatedly threatened that in Macedonia, as well as in Serbia, Kosovo and Albania, will organize a series of terrorist attacks, urging Muslims from the Balkans to follow the “call of the caliphate”, that is, to establish an Islamic system. Security experts have warned that the alarm should always be on, but that realistically Macedonia is not on the Islamists’ map, but that the states which are part of the coalition that is carrying out military operations against them are primarily on their list.

Goran Adamovski