An ethnic Albanian was killed and two others injured when Macedonian troops exchanged fire with assailants near the country's border with the UN-run Yugoslav province of Kosovo, a Macedonian military official said.
The incident occurred near the northern village of Belavce when a Macedonian army patrol came under fire from assailants in a truck, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The troops returned fire, killing one person in the truck and wounding two others.
Five ethnic Albanians were arrested and handed over to representatives of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) following the incident.
The Macedonian official did not indicate if the assailants were from Kosovo or were Macedonian citizens, nor if the truck was spotted entering or leaving the former Yugoslav republic.
In a statement released in Skopje, the US embassy said that US KFOR troops were in the vicinity and responded to a request for assistance and provided first aid.
The UN Mission in Kosovo has asked the Macedonian foreign ministry to "clarify" the incident," Mr Andrea Angeli, a spokesman for UNMIK, said.
The Macedonian government signed a Western-brokered peace agreement with ethnic Albanian rebels last August to end a seven-month insurgency.
Under the accord, the rebel National Liberation Army officially disbanded and the country's constitution was changed to offer the minority ethnic Albanian population more rights.
Violence in Kosovo, which is predominantly ethnic Albanian, has decreased since June 1999 when the KFOR troops entered the southern Serbian province after NATO's 78-day bombing campaign.
AFP