NATO Secretary General George Robertson denounced renewed fighting between Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas today as complete folly and demanded that the "madness" stop. In a strongly worded statement on behalf of the 19-member alliance, he warned that any attempt to drag NATO into slicing up the country along ethnic lines would be a blueprint for disaster. The statement was issued after Macedonian security forces launched a dawn assault with tanks and helicopters against a guerrilla enclave near the capital, Skopje, shattering a nineday truce.
Mi-24 helicopter gunships, usually armed with rockets and four-barrel 12.7mm machine guns, began swooping in on Aracinovo at dawn, firing at the village from which the rebels have threatened to shell the Macedonian capital Skopje and its airport.
Several buildines were engulfed in flames and the top of the minaret of a mosque was blown off. Tank shells also slammed into the area between the village, just 10 km (six miles) from the capital, and the nearby Athens-Belgrade highway.
Defence Ministry spokesman Mr Georgi Trendafilov said it was an operation to eliminate the `terrorists' in Aracinovo .
But the rebels, who responded with heavy machinegun fire and possibly mortar rounds, showed no signs of giving up.
"It is a real fight," rebel commander Hodzha told reporters by telephone early today afternoon. "They tried to come in but we broke them and they withdrew."
Three civilians had been killed, and one rebel injured, Hodzha said, adding that his men had killed five policemen and injured many others. Macedonian officials denied any casualties.
A government official told reporters the operation was aimed at forcing Albanian politicians to compromise in stalled cross-party talks to persuade the rebels to end their four-month-old rebellion in return for greater Albanian rights.
"Without any advances on the ground, you cannot advance in the political talks. We haven't moved in several weeks, that's why the Albanians have such strong demands", he said.