Ethnic Albanian guerrillas took the battle to the Macedonian government yesterday, capturing part of a village south of their main strongholds, despite an ongoing security forces offensive. Civilians continued to flee the area as police units sent reinforcements to Matejce, just south of the rebels' village strongholds in Lipkovo and Slupcane, where guerrillas were threatening a police station.
The Macedonian Defence Minister, Mr Vlado Buckovski, said the authorities would pursue their efforts to "create conditions for evacuations of civilians in the region".
Macedonian state television reported that "heavy fighting" had escalated overnight in Matejce, a tiny village west of Kumanovo, the main town in northern Macedonia, after an attack on a police station.
A group of about 40 ethnic Albanian villagers said they had fled Matejce during the shooting, with one of them saying that a part of the village was under the control of ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (NLA).
Meanwhile, a reporter in the nearby village of Ljubodrag said a convoy of around 20 armoured vehicles, backed by three T-55 tanks and a bus with policemen, were heading towards Matejce. The tanks took position in the fields near the village, opening fire around 3.30 p.m. (2.30 p.m. Irish time). A policeman in Ljubodrag said the convoy would reinforce about 50 officers in the station in Matejce, which had been surrounded by the guerrillas.
The army spokesman, Col Blagoja Markovski, confirmed the police station had been attacked, but denied that it was surrounded. Col Markovski said the rebels were also trying to spread the clashes towards another nearby village, Otlja.
He added that 1,358 people had been evacuated overnight from two hamlets south of Matejce - Nikustak and Vistica - which have so far been spared from clashes.