Last night, at around 20:45, two people on a motorcycle fired at the car of the Krujë police chief.

A suspect in the murder of two police officers apprehended[?] Last night, two young men fired an automatic weapon at the car of the head of the Krujë Police Station. Colonel Pellumb Korfuz[i?] had just gotten out of it. A person suspected of taking part in the murder of the two police-officer brothers, Gëzim and Besim Neziri, was stopped at a roadblock while aboard a black Benz with Krujë license plates. FUSHE KRUJE — Alarm in Fushë Krujë; police at the highest state of alert. An assassination attempt on the police commissioner had been foiled. His car, from which he had stepped out only moments earlier, was raked with automatic-gunfire from a motorcycle. Two young men wearing helmets sped toward the car and fired at the very spot where Colonel Pellumb Korf[u]zi, head of the Krujë police station, usually sits. Police, already on alert because of an incident just minutes earlier, managed to stop at a roadblock one of the suspects Besim Neziri. He was traveling in a black Benz with Krujë license plates and had already managed to evade another roadblock once. The chain of unusual events near Fushë Krujë had begun at 20:30. Someone had fired an automatic weapon, and then all the “consequences” followed. In a major police operation, a number of suspects were taken to the police station for carrying weapons without a permit. Commissioner Korf[u]zi himself was leading the operation, which was later reinforced by special forces from Tirana. All entrances and exits to the capital had been blocked, while the national road leading to Krujë was divided into sections with numerous roadblocks manned by police officers armed with automatic weapons and equipped with bulletproof clothing. Yesterday’s assassination attempt, which sought the head of Colonel Pellumb Korfuzit, was the second in the career of this successful police officer. Three years ago, when he was serving in Pogradec, his office was blown up by a powerful explosion. At that moment, he was closing its door. On page 7 In the photo: Commissioner Pellumb Korf[u]zi last night, moments after the assassination attempt

: The defacement of the icons—political “murder” or religious jealousy? ANDREA STEFANI TIRANA — Not even six years have passed since religious institutions were revived, and “iconoclasm” has once again appeared in Albania. Various newspapers have reported, in alarm, the bloody massacre of 23 icons depicting saints on the walls of the Vosk[o]po[je] Church, allegedly carried out by several young Muslims under the patronage of some Arab teachers. And the pages of the press have also been flooded with statements by religious and political figures in the country, commenting on the perpetrator and the purpose of this barbaric act. The head of the Muslim Community, Hafiz Sabri Koçi, describes it as “an act by those who want to destroy the cohesion and unity among religious faiths in Albania,” ruling out the possibility that it was the work of Albanian Muslim believers. But there have also been many other statements—indeed, statements coming from political quarters—that describe the destruction of the icons as a consequence of Islamic or Muslim fundamentalism. Well-known opposition political figures see the position of the governing Party—which they describe as more or less absolutist—as one of the roots nourishing fundamentalism in its various forms, including Islamic fundamentalism. In the same vein, they accuse the Government of creating openings for fundamentalist ideas or practices to penetrate the country. Fundamentalist. The Albanian Helsinki Committee joined this criticism yesterday too, faulting the Government for allowing “the uncontrolled activity of religious missionaries, spokespeople for sects or for fanatical and fundamentalist concepts and visions.” In any case, alternative opinions have not managed to provide a definitive answer to the first question that springs to mind as soon as one hears of such a calamity: “Who, who did it?” And this is not merely about what is obvious. In this case, judgments that it is pointless—even extremely dangerous—to rush to identify the perpetrator may perhaps serve that invisible hand which, as in an ambush, leaves other traces at the crime scene than its own. The act itself is fundamentalist, but it is still too early to attach a name to it, regardless of the “clear” facts. The destruction of icons is not unique to Albania, to modern times, or even to Islam alone. In the Byzantine Middle Ages—which also encompassed Albania—there were decades of a powerful movement to eliminate icons, called “iconoclasm,” and it was carried out by Christian sects themselves. In Albania, there is no one unaware of the “revolutionary movement” which, in 1967, swept the country’s entire territory clean of churches and mosques. What these “storms,” separated from one another by centuries, have in common is the great turmoil they caused in their respective societies and the fact that behind them the political hand is clearly visible: they were carried out in the name of domination, not freedom. Could it be the same again? Or are we dealing simply with secular rivalry or jealousy that is fueling fundamentalism and undermining coexistence? In every possible scenario, the “black hoods” may have roots inside the country, but also outside it. These are mysteries that must be solved—step by step and without delay—by the opposition, the opposition and the other segments that make up what is called a democratic state. In a left-minded way, free of electoral calculations, from which religious issues must remain strictly separate. But in the hope of spreading a new spirit, of again bringing religion into politics. Not the domination of politics over religion, but rather a clear-eyed view of politics. Perhaps a political spirit that, in some measure, takes religious concerns into account, strengthens or diminishes pluralism and tolerance, where a plurality of cultures has coexisted ...

TIRANA — Prostitutes because of poverty. They charged only 500 lekë for sexual intercourse. Married women with children—who have denied the accusation—heard the judge announce yesterday the measure of arrest for practicing prostitution. Gathered together only a few months earlier, they had decided to earn their bread by choosing this particular profession. Their clients were mainly elderly men, but also unlucky young men whose love life had not gone well. Only three people, suspected of having been clients, were released. One of them, from Fushë-Kruja, says he had gone there to sell milk and the women had invited him inside. The same was true of another man, who, when the police arrived, was painting the ceiling of the toilet in the “pleasure house.” The women accused of prostitution On page 5

Berisha: “Closer to Europe”

He was a beggar in Italy TIRANA — He had gone to Italy illegally and was working as a beggar at Milan’s traffic lights, but fell victim to a pedophile. Floriani, 15, became prey to the perverse sexual tastes of a 34-year-old Italian, Fabio Pedalino. The discovery was made by police at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, when Pedalino and the 15-year-old were found in a parked car in a secluded area. The boy was terrified and in a state of shock. The sexual act had just taken place, for which the Italian had promised him 50,000 lire. Pedalino had found Floriani in the evening near a traffic light. He invited him to dinner; they went into a gaming arcade, and then he took advantage of him to satisfy his sexual urges. On page 5

Berisha: “Closer to Europe” TIRANA—The Albanian opposition complains to the senior commissioners of the Council of Europe. “Nothing has been done,” was the shared view, which the opposition leaders advised other deputies to adopt. Meanwhile, the commissioners’ visit has prompted the Democratic Party’s political camp to call for even greater cooperation between Albania and European institutions. “Closer cooperation with the CoE,” Berisha said at a meeting with the CoE commissioners. Lord Finsberg On page 3

SPORT On page 6

TIRANA—Concern among the Albanian public over the news that Gjon Buzuku’s Meshari, the earliest work written in the Albanian language, had been stolen has somewhat subsided. The Vatican has told Tirana’s diplomats that the rare volume, written in the 16th century, has not been lost, but is difficult to locate at the moment. The news that Gjon Buzuku’s Meshari had gone missing was premature and unfounded, the Prefect of the Vatican Library, Leonard Boyle, said yesterday in a notice to the Albanian embassy in Rome. Boyle further assured them that the most important document in the Albanian language is in one of the halls of the great library. Meanwhile, it is understood that three library employees have been specifically assigned to find it. “It is in the nature of our work for books, which number in the millions, to circulate from one place to another,” said the Vatican official. He also assured them that finding a missing book is an extremely difficult task. Nevertheless, the Vatican Library has managed to find a book it had been looking for since 1905. It is lost among millions of volumes. The search continues. GJON BUZUKU’S MESHARI (1555)

From the World STOCKHOLM—Fear of AIDS appears to be the cause of the widespread rise in pedophilia. This was the conclusion reached yesterday by the Conference on Physical and Sexual Abuse of Minors. Protection from the disease of the century has led sexual obsessives to turn to minors, seeing them as preferable, in order to satisfy their perverse needs. On page 2

The case was in court yesterday. The “clients” found by the police are released.