Macedonia's troops shelled positions of ethnic Albanian rebels today while its leaders hurriedly examined political concessions to the Albanian minority aimed at averting civil war.
A senior ethnic Albanian politician said there were unconfirmed reports that up to 10 civilians had been killed in the latest upsurge in fighting, including members of the main Albanian party and a nine-year-old child.
Close to the border with Kosovo, a Macedonian army jeep hit a land mine and one soldier lost both legs, a government official said.
As troops pounded rebel-held villages to the northeast of Skopje, President Boris Trajkovski hurriedly resumed talks in the capital with leaders of parliamentary political parties on ways of increasing the rights of the Albanian minority.
The rebels, operating from villages near Macedonia's northern borders, say they are fighting for equal rights for ethnic Albanians who represent roughly one third of the two million-strong population.
Mr Trajkovski, who received strong backing from Washington earlier this week, said measures discussed included increasing the numbers of Albanians in official positions, decentralization of local government and increased use of the Albanian language.
Possible changes to the constitution, which designates Macedonian Slavs as the founder nation of the former Yugoslav republic, were also discussed.
The political dialogue had been earlier broken off after guerrillas killed 10 servicemen in a week.
Trajkovski said in televised remarks that political leaders had also discussed how to evacuate civilians, mostly ethnic Albanians, trapped in battle zones in the latest upsurge of fighting.