Macedonian government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels fought yesterday in a serious breach of a 17-day ceasefire rendered fragile by the failure of local leaders to agree a permanent peace deal.
Heavy machine-gun, mortar and small-arms fire echoed for almost two hours across the hill-sides above Tetovo, the main Albanian town in the former Yugoslav republic, 35 km west of the capital Skopje. Western sources said the Macedonian army had responded "disproportionally" to incoming fire by Albanian National Liberation Army guerrillas. Two government soldiers were reported injured.