Macedonian forces bombarded suspected ethnic Albanian guerrilla positions at two flashpoints close to the Kosovo border today, using tank and heavy machine-gun fire.
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Armed Macedonianpoliceman
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In the northwestern town of Tetovo, four Macedonian Slav civilians were taken to hospital with injuries after an explosion, the director of the town hospital said, without making clear what had caused the blast.
But a Macedonian interior ministry spokesman said the guerrillas had targeted a police position in a Slav district of the town with mortar.
"They tried to hit our police point near the church but according to our information they hit a civilian target," spokesman Stevo Pendarovski told reporters. He said two civilians had been injured according to unconfirmed information.
At another flashpoint closer to the capital Skopje near the village of Gracani, there were reports of tank and mortar fire indicating a battle was raging.
The sound of heavy shelling was audible in the vicinity of the village in bare hills close to the border with Kosovo. A thick plume of smoke billowed skywards. The insurgents seized the village on Wednesday night.
All country roads into the area were sealed off by heavily armed police roadblocks. A truckload of troops headed towards the scene, but reporters were turned back by police who said it was dangerous to go there.
In Tetovo, special police fired heavy machine-gun rounds from at least two sandbagged positions. There was also the thump of mortar rounds in the barrage.
It was not immediately clear whether there was return fire from the rebels, who say they are fighting for greater rights for minority ethnic Albanians in Slav-dominated Macedonia.
Tetovo hospital director Raim Thaci said the four injured civilians, all Macedonian Slavs, had been brought to hospital in the early afternoon. They had been hurt by an explosive device in a Slav district of the city.