Fighting threatens Macedonia deal

This was the second series of burials in two days

Fierce fighting has broken out in northern Macedonia, casting further doubt on Monday's planned signing of a peace agreement between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian leaders.

The defence ministry said security forces in the village of Radusa near the Kosovo border came under sustained attack for several hours from rebels alleged to have infiltrated the area from the UN-administered territory.

Helicopter gunships were seen over Skopje

Troop reinforcements were flown to the area by helicopter.

Heavy machine-gun and mortar fire was also reported in the northwestern town of Tetovo, which has in the past been the scene of repeated clashes between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.

Hospital officials said a Macedonian policeman and a civilian had been hurt in the latest upsurge in fighting.

Meanwhile Macedonians mourned the deaths of seven soldiers in a landmine explosion just outside Skopje on Friday.

Correspondents say fighting is still sporadic but has been getting progressively heavier since the peace deal with ethnic Albanians was agreed on Wednesday.

International mediators from the European Union and the United States have said it is critical that the deal is signed on schedule.

But the Macedonian Government believes the latest fighting is proof that the ethnic Albanian rebels will never agree to surrender their arms to Nato as the deal demands.

Eulogies

Crowds gathered at several cemeteries in Skopje to bury the seven soldiers blown up in Friday's mine explosion.

Macedonians turned their anger on ethnic Albanian shopkeepers

Officials delivered eulogies to the dead men, whom they praised as heroes who died for their country.

It was the second series of burials in two days.

Another 10 soldiers, killed on Wednesday in the worst single attack by rebels so far, were buried on Friday.

Macedonians angry at the killings rioted in Skopje, looting ethnic Albanian businesses and protesting outside the US embassy.

Senior Macedonian ministers decided on Friday night that military action against ethnic Albanian rebels would continue.

The Macedonian foreign minister has called for tougher international intervention to avoid full-blown civil war.

Plea for help

Government sources said they had evidence that rebel infiltration from Kosovo had led to the latest outbreak of fighting in Radusa.

BBC correspondent Chris Morris says the authorities are determined to portray the rebel movement as the aggressors in this conflict.

But officials say the government still intends to sign a peace deal on Monday negotiated between leaders of the Macedonian and ethnic Albanian communities.

International mediators hope the signing ceremony will go ahead but are taking nothing for granted.

Every report of further fighting makes the peace process look even more vulnerable.

A future amnesty for rebel fighters has yet to be negotiated, and after Saturday's funerals the talk is not of forgiveness but of revenge, the BBC's Chris Morris says.