Between 150 and 200 civilians were injured overnight in a Macedonian artillery barrage against rebel-held villages near the Kosovo border, a spokesman for the KFOR peacekeeping force said today.
"The civilians, from villages north of here, crossed the border into Kosovo this morning seeking medical attention," Captain Hans Guenter Bender told reporters in front of the KFOR military base in Tetovo.
Cpt Bender said that Macedonian government forces had used machine guns, mortars and 105 millimetre and 120 millimetre artillery in the bombardment. The rebels responded in some areas with small arms fire, he said.
Ethnic Albanian rebels calling themselves the National Liberation Army (NLA) took control of several villages north of Tetovo nine days ago.
Yesterday the Macedonian government warned that army and special police commanders had been given authority to launch an "uncompromising" campaign to drive the rebels from their positions in villages near the border with UN-administered Kosovo.
Tracer fire from heavy machine guns was visible from central Tetovo until the early hours of this morning and shell detonations were occasionally heard in the hills above.
Cpt Bender was unable to say whether or not the Macedonians had advanced thanks to their offensive, or whether they had suffered any casualties.
AFP