ZAGREB, Feb 25: A former interior minister of Macedonia has been charged in Croatia with the murder of seven migrants in what was allegedly intended to look like a coup against terrorists infiltrating the West, Croatian state radio said on Friday.

The victims of the 2002 incident were six Pakistanis and one Indian who were allegedly smuggled into Macedonia from Bulgaria, killed in a police ambush and kitted out with pistols and ammunition to look like a terrorist squad heading west across the Balkans.

Ljube Boskovski fled last year to Croatia and was detained on a Macedonian warrant six months ago. He is a Croatian citizen and under Croatian law cannot be extradited to another country. -Reuters