Fighting Erupts West of Skopje, Strains Peace

10/04/2001| IslamWeb

SKOPJE, Macedonia (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Fighting erupted between Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian fighters west of the capital Skopje Wednesday in a new strain on peace talks aimed at defusing the Albanian revolt for equal rights. Witnesses said helicopters fired at Albanian positions along the main road between the capital, Skopje, and the northwestern flashpoint town of Tetovo, near where a police convoy was attacked in late July. The Slav-dominated army closed the road to cars. (Read photo caption below)
A Defense Ministry spokesman said the Slav-dominated army was merely responding when its forces came under fire. Both sides have accused the other of repeated violations of a truce in place since last month.
A Macedonian construction company said five Macedonian workers were freed unharmed late Tuesday after being detained by suspected Albanian fighters on the main road from Tetovo to Skopje in what had been feared was a revenge attack for the killing of five Albanians on Tuesday.
``They were freed last night,'' Sasha Srtzev, a manager of the Mavrovo company, told reporters. Leaders of the main Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties were meeting in a southwestern lakeside town in a bid to reach a deal to defuse the fighting.
PHOTO CAPTION:
German NATO soldiers on an armored personal carrier lead a convoy of military trucks on the road between the town of Tetovo and Macedonian capital Skopje, on Monday, Aug. 6, 2001. NATO plans to deploy some 3,500 soldiers from different countries to Macedonia to disarm the ethnic Albanian insurgents, if Macedonia's political parties will agree on a final deal on measures to end a five-month ethnic Albanian rebellion. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
- Aug 06 1:44 PM ET