Macedonia alarmed by more border incidents

Macedonia says its army has been put on combat alert following reports of more armed incidents along its border with Kosovo.

The defence ministry said unidentified gunmen from inside Kosovo had opened fire on two border checkpoints near the village of Lojane and at Dolno Blace and troops had returned the fire.

There were no reports of any casualties.

Earlier in the week, President Boris Trajkovski ordered the reinforcement of border security after two Macedonian soldiers were wounded by sniper fire. Four soldiers were kidnapped in April, but were later released. Ethnic Albanians make up almost a third of Macedonia's population, but the country managed to stay out of the Kosovo conflict last year.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service