The Macedonian army has resumed heavy shelling of villages held by ethnic Albanian rebels.
This is despitethreats by the rebels to attack downtown Skopje if the onslaught did not cease.
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The army began hitting the villages of Slupcane and Matejce shortly after first light and the blasts were still continuing more than an hour later.
Huge plumes of smoke rose from close to the villages as the echo of impact blasts rolled around the valley.
The shelling maintained the daily sequence of attacks which the Macedonian forces have mounted since last Friday on the National Liberation Army (NLA),rebels whose four-month insurgency aimed at securing better rights for the 30 per cent ethnic Albanian minority has brought the country close to all out civil war.
Last nighta rebel commander in a small town just 10 km from Skopje threatened to fire on strategic Macedonian targets if the army attacks did not cease.
"If the shelling doesn't stop, we are able to inflict the same damage on them as they are on us," the commander said.
"We are capable of hitting targets which we consider legitimate in Skopje itself. It could be the airport, the parliament, the police station, the Ministry of Defence or the Ministry of Interior," he said.
He said they could strike the capital with rockets, 120mm mortars, and some anti-aircraft weapons. Their weapons' store was not large, but sufficient, he said.
Thousands of civilians are believed to be trapped in them by the fighting and are cowering in shelters with little water or medical supplies. Thousands more from areas not yet hit by the fighting fled into neighbouring Kosovo yesterday.