Skopje - Albanian guerrilla activity is spreading along Macedonia's mountain border despite international efforts to contain the unrest, Macedonian officials said yesterday.
"We have unconfirmed information that there is movement of armed groups in the villages in the Kumanovo area," a police spokesman told reporters.
NATO-led Kfor peacekeeping forces reinforced control of the Kosovo side of the border, but Macedonian officials said ethnic Albanian guerrillas were stepping up activity in the Balkan state where Albanians make up one-third of the population.
The police spokesman said 177 people, mostly women and children, had fled the village of Gosince, east of Tanusevci, where an armed group appeared more than a month ago and has clashed seriously with security forces over the past week.