It was speculated that the ambush was carried out in retaliation for a Macedonian police raid in Skopje, the day before in which five NLA insurgents were killed.

In the years following the ambush, the Macedonian government has commissioned several plaques commemorating the fallen reservists, which have become the frequent target of vandals.

On 7 August 2001, the Macedonian police carried out a raid in Skopje targeting a rebel cell allegedly planning attacks in the capital.

[4][5] On 8 August 2001, a convoy of five vehicles transporting 120 members of the ARM's Military Reserve Force was ambushed by the NLA outside the village of Grupčin, near the locale of Karpalak, on the highway between Skopje and Tetovo at 9:30 am.

In direct response to it, the ARM deployed additional reinforcements to Tetovo, including ten main battle tanks, as well as multiple trucks loaded with soldiers.

[8] In the day after the ambush, the ten reservists were buried with military honours at a Prilep cemetery, their coffins draped in the flag of Macedonia.

[13][14][15][16][17] Macedonia's Defence Minister, Vlado Bučkovski, appealed for the rioters to show restraint and refrain from attacking Albanian-owned properties.

[18] In Skopje, youths threw rocks at shops which they suspected might be owned by ethnic Albanians,[19] and rioters broke into the barracks of a supply depot.

[18] Macedonian Minister of the Interior Ljube Boškoski and his assistant Johan Tarčulovski were later charged with war crimes by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in relation to this action.

[25] The Karpalak ambush, as well as the landmine explosion at Ljuboten, coincided with ongoing peace negotiations between the Macedonian government and representatives of the country's ethnic Albanian minority.

"This is clearly a setback for the peace process," U.S. envoy James Pardew remarked, referring to the recent Macedonian casualties, "but it is critical that this agreement is signed on Monday.

Igor Petreski, the head of the veterans' organization Karpalak, defended the mayor's wartime record and vouched that Risteski had been on the front lines in Tetovo the night the mosque was torched.

[10] In the years following the ambush, the Macedonian authorities dedicated multiple plaques to commemorate the victims, most of which were later damaged or destroyed by unknown perpetrators.