Macedonia peace deal 'within days'

EU envoy Francoise Leotard said a peace deal would be signed next week

TETOVO, Macedonia (CNN) -- A peace pact for Macedonia will be signed next Monday by the four main political parties, Europe's senior negotiator says.

The breakthrough was announced by European Union envoy Francois Leotard on Wednesday just hours after an ambush in which at least nine Macedonian troops were killed.

Leotard condemned the ambush and a subsequent battle between government forces and rebels, but said the process to reach a political agreement remained ongoing.

"The political process will continue until Monday, the 13th of August," Leotard told reporters. "This is the date when the agreement will be signed in Skopje."

Leaders of the two main Macedonian and two ethnic Albanian political parties have been meeting with Western mediators for the past 10 days.

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The announcement came after a key Macedonian party returned to negotiations after temporarily backing out of the talks.

The party, known as the VMRO, had withdrawn because of the earlier ambush in the northwestern city of Tetovo of a convoy on the road between Skopje and Tetovo.

The Macedonian Defence Ministry said it could confirm nine soldiers died; there were reports that over a dozen may have been killed.

The fighting was described as the most fierce in five months. Helicopters and tanks were called in as the battle continued and fighting spread to inside Tetovo.

CNN's Juliette Terzieff said tanks, artillery and small arms fire pounded rebel positions on the west side of the city.

"There is return fire. The battle is going back and forth on this side of the city and it has been increasing over the last two hours," she said.

The VMRO, which is headed by Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, said it was freezing its participation in peace talks after learning of the ambush.

The party said it would decide whether to continue its participation after President Boris Trajkovski meets with the country's national security council.

Despite Leotard's assurances, party officials indicated whether or not the peace process stays on track will depend on what the national security council decides.

NATO troops were standing by to disarm the rebels if the deal was signed

Wednesday's toll eclipsed the killings of eight soldiers in a rebel attack near Vejce near the Kosovo border on April 28 as the highest in the conflict so far.

The rival political sides had returned to the talks at the southwestern lake resort of Ohrid on Wednesday after the Macedonians received assurances from NATO that ethnic Albanians eventually would disarm in exchange for amnesty.

Under the plan, 3,500 NATO soldiers will deploy and carry out the disarmament, but only after the rival sides fully agree on the deal and after the Macedonian government pledges amnesty for the rebels, sources told the Associated Press.

The Macedonians agreed to grant amnesty to all rebels, the sources said, except those responsible for crimes dealt with by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

The insurgents say they are fighting for greater rights for the ethnic minority.