Heavy fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and the Macedonian army broke out today in the suburbs of the northwestern flashpoint town of Tetovo, injuring two people, hospital sources said.
Fighting was also reported around the municipal stadium, in the northern suburbs.
A Macedonian policeman and an unidentified civilian had been injured in the fighting.
The new eruption comes less than two days before Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders are due to sign a peace accord, finalised last Wednesday, aimed at preventing the troubled Balkan country slipping towards civil war.
Tetovo has been at the centre of much of the fighting between the rebels of the National Liberation Army (NLA) and government forces, since an insurgency was launched in February, bringing the Balkan country close to war.
Earlier on Saturday, Defence ministry spokesman Mr Marjan Gjurovski said clashes had also broken out in the northern village of Radusa.
He said Macedonian forces were responding "energetically" to the attacks, which started late yesterday, and that military helicopters had been sent in.
The new fighting came as Macedonia held a day of mourning for eight soldiers killed a day earlier in a landmine blast when their supply truck ran over two anti-tank mines near the village of Ljubanci, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) north of Skopje.
AFP