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Refugees flee Macedonia clashes


Macedonian soldiers run for cover

TETOVO, Macedonia -- Soldiers and ethnic Albanians have clashed outside Macedonia's second-largest city for a third day.

Soldiers using mortar and heavy machine-gun rounds attempted to force the rebels out of the mountainous region of Mount Sar Planina around Tetovo in a battle that raged throughout the night and into Friday morning.

Two ethnic Albanian civilians were wounded by stray bullets, Macedonian state radio reported, and hundreds of villagers have fled the area.

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CNN's Chris Burns reports on the fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian soldiers

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CNN's Chris Burns: There's intense fire going on

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Carl Bildt, UN special envoy to the Balkans: It's a very worrying situation

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Why the rebels are fighting

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Fighting also broke out in other areas of the country including around Kicevo, about 120 kilometres (70 miles) southwest of Skopje, and Zajas, near the Albanian border, where a police station was targeted.

In the northern part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, fighting broke out around the village of Lipkovo, 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of the capital, police said.

The predominantly ethnic Albanian village is located just south of a border area where troops and ethnic Albanian rebels clashed in the past two weeks around the village of Tanusevci on Macedonia's northern borders with Kosovo.

The Macedonian Interior Ministry blamed the Tetovo fighting on 200 heavily armed rebels from Kosovo who crossed into Macedonia and occupied several border villages.

Ethnic Albanian fighters were managing to evade KFOR forces guarding the Kosovo border and enter Macedonia, officials said.

The fighting comes as Macedonia, KFOR, and Yugoslav forces have all initiated operations near the Kosovo, southern Serbian, and Macedonian borders in the hope of driving Albanian rebels out of the area after restrictions were lifted from the Balkan armies.

Macedonian soldiers had previously been barred from operating in highly populated areas.

Later, the National Security Council, a panel of top government and defence officials, said the regime would "take additional urgent and efficient measures for the Macedonian security forces to neutralise the terrorist groups."

Russia backs Macedonia

Russia's Foreign Ministry said it fully backed Macedonia's government efforts, but expressed concerns the former Yugoslav republic could turn into another Kosovo.

As many as 2,000 Christian Macedonians began fleeing Tetovo heading towards Skopje, while several hundred Muslim Macedonian villagers remained stranded, according to local radio.


A woman looks on as soldiers patrol Tetovo

There was panic buying of petrol and food both in Tetovo and in the capital Skopje. Local gas stations in Tetovo are now out of petrol, CNN's Chris Burns said.

Schools and shops in Tetovo remained closed on Thursday as most of the population stayed indoors.

Southern Serbia, the other potential flashpoint, was calm on Thursday. A NATO-mediated truce appeared to be holding, but the successful deployment of Yugoslav troops on Wednesday was overshadowed by the fighting in Macedonia.

Ethnic Albanians account for at least a quarter of Macedonia's two million people, dominating western regions of the country and a large section of the capital.

One civilian, an ethnic Albanian man, died on Wednesday. Both sides blame each other for his death.

The NATO alliance insisted on Thursday it stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the government in Macedonia, but said it would not send any combat troops to help the Macedonian authorities in their fight against ethnic-Albanian rebels.

Fears remain that fighting could spread and engulf much of the country.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.