Military Assaults Macedonia

Government troops fought ethnic Albanian rebels Tuesday in the mountains of northwestern Macedonia in what appeared to be the fiercest clash in the area since March. In Tetovo, Macedonia's main ethnic Albanian town, tank and machine gun fire could be heard from the Sar mountains near the villages of Sipkovica and Gajre. A Macedonian radio station said rebels had attacked army positions near Gajre.

Government troops fought ethnic Albanian rebels Tuesday in the mountains of northwestern Macedonia in what appeared to be the fiercest clash in the area since March. In Tetovo, Macedonia's main ethnic Albanian town, tank and machine gun fire could be heard from the Sar mountains near the villages of Sipkovica and Gajre. A Macedonian radio station said rebels had attacked army positions near Gajre.

Jolted awake by a dawn barrage of tank and mortar fire, Muazam Zesnuli predicted, correctly, that his barn stood no chance against the Macedonian army. So he raced to free his herd--a horse, two cows and a donkey--before huddling with his wife and two children in their basement. Ten hours later, the ethnic Albanian family emerged unharmed to find the barn burned and the farmhouse pocked with bullets and littered with broken glass. But that was not the end of their ordeal.

Jolted awake by a dawn barrage of tank and mortar fire, Muazam Zesnuli predicted, correctly, that his barn stood no chance against the Macedonian army. So he raced to free his herd--a horse, two cows and a donkey--before huddling with his wife and two children in their basement. Ten hours later, the ethnic Albanian family emerged unharmed to find the barn burned and the farmhouse pocked with bullets and littered with broken glass. But that was not the end of their ordeal.

Fighting between security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas resumed Thursday after a 24-hour lull as the Macedonian government spurned a rebel offer of peace talks and put the army in charge of a struggling anti-insurgency campaign. Two suspected guerrillas were killed and four government troops were wounded in scattered confrontations as unilateral cease-fires on both sides ended, dashing faint hopes for a quick settlement of an armed conflict over ethnic minority rights.

International concern about fighting along the Macedonia-Kosovo border grew Monday as ethnic Albanian guerrillas clashed with Macedonian security forces. U.S. peacekeepers on the Kosovo side of the border said they observed ethnic Albanian fighters in apparent retreat after stashing their weapons and changing out of uniform in homes or barns. But the Macedonian Defense Ministry said an estimated 150 to 300 guerrillas continued to hold the border village of Tanusevci.

Fighting between security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas resumed Thursday after a 24-hour lull as the Macedonian government spurned a rebel offer of peace talks and put the army in charge of a struggling anti-insurgency campaign. Two suspected guerrillas were killed and four government troops were wounded in scattered confrontations as unilateral cease-fires on both sides ended, dashing faint hopes for a quick settlement of an armed conflict over ethnic minority rights.

International concern about fighting along the Macedonia-Kosovo border grew Monday as ethnic Albanian guerrillas clashed with Macedonian security forces. U.S. peacekeepers on the Kosovo side of the border said they observed ethnic Albanian fighters in apparent retreat after stashing their weapons and changing out of uniform in homes or barns. But the Macedonian Defense Ministry said an estimated 150 to 300 guerrillas continued to hold the border village of Tanusevci.