Macedonian President Mr Boris Trajkovski cancelled a visit to Romania today as the army said it had taken "all necessary measures" after suspected ethnic Albanian rebels
killed eight Macedonian soldiers and police on the border with Kosovo last night.
The attack shattered a month-long lull in fighting.Defence ministry spokesman Mr Georgi Trendafilov said the eight members of the security forces were trapped in an ambush by "Albanian terrorists". He said two others were also wounded in the attack.
As the government held a crisis meeting, Macedonian television said the President had cancelled a planned visit Sunday to Romania.
The spokesman said the rebels attacked Macedonian troops and police in the village of Vejce, in the Tetevo region near the frontier with the UN-run Serbian province of Kosovo. There had been no exchange of fire after the attack, he added.
The toll is the largest in a single incident since clashes between Macedonian troops and Albanian rebels of the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA) erupted in February and March.
An NLA commander contacted by AFPfrom Pristina could not confirm the incident, and insisted that his troops were respecting a ceasefire.
The NATO-led multinational force in Kosovo (KFOR) said it had no information about the incident.
"We have no information on what happened. We still don't have any report from the soldiers on the ground," KFOR spokesman Mr Axel Jandesek said in Pristina.
The region around Tetovo, Macedonia's second largest city with an 80 percent ethnic Albanian population, was the scene of fierce fighting between Macedonian troops and ethnic Albanian rebels of the self-styled National Liberation Army.
AFP