Belgrade - Eight ethnic Albanians were killed yesterday in a clash with Yugoslav security forces in Kosovo, the Serbian-run information centre in Pristina said.
It was the most serious incident since October when the Yugoslav President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, threatened with NATO air strikes, suspended a fierce crackdown on Kosovo Albanian separatists.
Citing military sources, the information centre said the "terrorists" were among a group of nine that attacked an army unit at Gorozup, near the border with Albania.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is deploying 2,000 ceasefire monitors in Kosovo, was informed about the incident, a spokesman said.
Yugoslavia said yesterday it planned to increase military spending by almost 70 per cent. The federal Prime Minister, Mr Momir Bulatovic, outlining his government's 1999 budget, told parliament 11.04 billion Yugoslav dinars ($1.1 billion) would go on the army, navy and air force.