Macedonian tanks entered Tetovo today as police machine-gunned and mortared ethnic Albanian rebel positions in a sixth day of violence that has fuelled fears of a new Balkan war.
Four Soviet-built tanks moved into Macedonia's main ethnic Albanian town on transporter vehicles from the direction of the capital Skopje about 45 km (30 miles) to the east, heading for the army base in Tetovo, a Reuters photographer said.
Interior Ministry troops have been firing at the mountain slopes close to Tetovo since 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 was no sign that Macedonian troops had carried out a promised ground assault on another hill above Tetovo, scene of heavy government shelling and automatic weapons duels with the ethnic Albanian rebels in recent days.
Soldiers of the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force KFOR - which patrols the UN-run Yugoslav province's boundaries - said the Macedonian army has started using heavy artillery and tanks against rebels holed up in the villages of Rehanska Mahala, Durska Mahala and Lukar Mahala near the border.
KFOR commander Gen Carlo Cabigiosu warned the rebels his troops would retaliate if they came under fire.
KFOR has around 37,000 troops under NATO command in Kosovo and 3,000 more in Macedonia. Some 500 German troops were evacuated from Tetovo on Friday after the Macedonian barracks they were housed in came under rebel fire.
As the crisis deepened with Macedonia mobilising reserve troops in a bid to stave off civil war in the multi-ethnic state, EU Foreign and Security Policy chief Mr Javier Solana was due to visit Skopje today.
There was disagreement in the international community about the depth of the crisis after UN Balkans envoy Mr Carl Bildt accused NATO of intentionally downplaying the extent of rebel forces.
Instead of the small groups of politically isolated extremists described by NATO chief Lord Robertson he said the rebels had proved tenacious and difficult to dislodge.
Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov who is on a Balkans tour warned: "If the violence is not stopped now in Macedonia it will spread to other Balkans countries."
Faced with a tougher approach from the armed forces rebels had also largely deserted the village of Malino Malo, witnesses told AFP, after shifting their base there following the loss of Tanusevci, whose Kosovo side was also occupied by US troops.
In Kosovo frontier villages serving as a jumping-off point for Kosovo Albanians trying to join their brethren fighting security forces across the border the atmosphere was tense.
AFP