Macedonian troops are continuing their offensive against ethnic Albanian rebels in the north-western city of Tetovo although there was no sign of a major assault by government forces on the suspected hillside rebel positions.
Yesterday the army brought up tanks and several hundred troops. A government spokesman said a final operation was being readied to oust the rebels.
Interior ministry troops have pounded rebel targets on hills overlooking the city for six days.
A government spokesman in the capital Skopje said security forces had destroyed the main rebel stronghold on a hill overlooking the town of around 70,000 people.
"The Macedonian security forces will soon start a final operation to destroy the terrorists", Mr Antonio Milosovski said.
"But Macedonian forces had not yet managed to destroy guerrilla underground tunnels," he said without elaborating.
Macedonian forces have mortared and machine-gunned rebel positions since last Wednesday in a bid to dislodge what Macedonia says is a force of several hundred rebels of the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA).
There has been little return fire in the past two days and an Interior ministry spokesman said attacks were subsiding.
Ethnic Albanians make up one-third of Macedonia's two million population. Both Skopje and the West are worried about the risk of a slide towards ethnic conflict that could not only tear the republic apart but ultimately drag in neighbouring Bulgaria, Greece, Albania or Yugoslavia.
The rebels say they are fighting for more rights for Macedonia's Albanians.