Macedonia fighting spreads

Fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonia forces has broken out in a previously peaceful area.

Eyewitness reports from Tetovo, 40km (25 miles) west of previous border flashpoints, say continuous gunfire has been heard in the area.

The Yugoslav army's chief of staff led the redeployment

The Macedonian authorities and the international community have been struggling to contain the curb the activities of the rebels, fearing a wider conflict.

In a new move to cut off rebel supplies, Yugoslav forces were deployed on Wednesday near the Macedonian border for the first time since the Kosovo conflict.

The deployment inside a previously demilitarised zone began at 0630 local time (0530GMT) on Wednesday, as columns of trucks and armoured personnel carriers began carrying hundreds of members of the 63rd Parachute Brigade into the territory.

The action for the return of sovereignty has started

Miloran Curic, Yugoslav official

Nato and European Union observers have also entered the zone to monitor a ceasefire agreed to between Belgrade and the guerrillas on Monday.

The troops were accompanied by the Yugoslav army's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Nebojsa Pavkovic, and a senior defence ministry official, Miloran Curic.

Ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia are fighting in new areas

Mr Curic said: "The action for the return of sovereignty has started."

The insurgents' struggle in the zone and in Macedonia is linked by common demands for more rights for ethnic Albanians who form the majority in the two adjoining regions.

The new clashes in Macedonia on Wednesday came after the police and army erected checkpoints north of Tetovo, say ethnic Albanian villagers.

The extent of the fighting is not clear, but the BBC's Paul Wood says the news is extremely significant, as the fighting seems to be spreading west to where most of the ethnic Albanian population of Macedonia live.

Buffer rules

Villages out of bounds

No shelling, without Nato consent

No armoured cars

No helicopters

No mines

No rocket launchers

Mortars allowed

Earlier this week Macedonian Government forces attempted to take control of two villages close to the border with Kosovo - Brest and Malino Malo, as well as consolidating their hold on the flashpoint village of Tanusevci.

The Kosovo buffer zone - set up in June 1999 as part of peace terms for Kosovo - was meant to reduce a threat to Nato-led peacekeepers by keeping the Yugoslav army at arm's length.

Because only lightly armed Serbian police were allowed in the zone, ethnic Albanian insurgents were able to establish control.