Macedonia orders attack on rebels

Macedonians set fire to Albanian shops after the attack

Macedonia's leadership has called for decisive military action against ethnic Albanian rebels who have been fighting the army for the past six months.

The country's National Security Council, which includes the president and prime minister, said there could be no question of implementing a peace deal before the rebels had been pushed back from recently-seized territory in the north and west.

Simply put, we don't count our chickens before they hatch

US spokesman
Richard Boucher

The call for action followed a rebel attack on a Macedonian military convoy, an ambush that left 10 soldiers dead.

It comes despite Wednesday's breakthrough in peace talks, which saw Western envoys manage to persuade Macedonian and ethnic Albanian leaders to initial an accord after 12 days of talks.

But all parties were sceptical when European Union negotiator Francois Leotard announced that there would be an official signing on Monday.

"I hope it's possible now to have peace on the ground and stabilisation of the situation, but I know that it's very complex," Reuters news agency quoted Mr Leotard as saying.

Leotard: "The situation is very complex"

The United States was cautious about the agreement.

"Simply put, we don't count our chickens before they hatch," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a news briefing in Washington.

The deal is designerd to grant ethnic Albanians, who make up about a third of Macedonia's population, new rights.

Nato has pledged to send in a 3,500-member force to oversee the disarming of the rebels once the final deal is signed.

But the renewed violence has threatened to undermine the agreement.

The BBC's Jonathan Charles in Skopje says many diplomats fear that once more Macedonia is lurching towards civil war.

The 10 soldiers were killed on Wednesday as they drove in convoy along a motorway between Skopje, and the country's second largest city, Tetovo.

They should have hit them with all they had at the beginning instead of inviting them to the negotiating table

Macedonian citizen

A fierce gun battle followed the attack, near the town of Grupcin, with rebels and soldiers dug in on different sides of the motorway.

The deaths of two officers and eight reservists marked the highest number of casualties the Macedonians have suffered in a single day since the fighting began.

In Tetovo itself, eyewitnesses said the southern part of the city had fallen to the rebels. There were also reports its civilian population was leaving.

Rioting broke out following reports of the rebel attack.

Macedonians in Skopje and in the town of Prilep, where the soldiers came from, smashed store windows and set fire to shops and to a mosque.

Protesters demanded the resignation of President Boris Trajkovski

"They should have hit them with all they had at the beginning instead of inviting them to the negotiating table," a Macedonian man of about 30 said as he watched the news in a hotel in Ohrid, where the peace talks were being held.

From his holiday base in Texas, US President George W Bush urged the sides to continue negotiating.

"I am urging all parties to get back to the table, (and to) renounce the violence," Mr Bush said, describing the latest outbreak of violence as "very worrisome."