Macedonian leader escapes attack

Macedonian troops have battled to end unrest

Shots have been fired at the office of Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, causing alarm but injuring no-one.

Mr Trajkovski was in the building in the capital, Skopje, when it came under attack from a passing car, which then sped away. Police have set up roadblocks in their hunt for the gunmen.

The prime minister does not wish more fighting... but we must finish with illusions that four months of conflict can be solved only through dialogue

Macedonian prime minister's spokesman

The attack came amid mounting tension, after five soldiers were killed on Tuesday in fierce fighting in the hills above Tetovo, the country's main ethnic Albanian town, prompting new calls for war to be declared.

Late on Wednesday riots broke out in the southern city of Bitola, where some of the troops came from.

Youths angered by the deaths set fire to shops owned by ethnic Albanians and local Muslims. Reports said up to 15 shops were destroyed.

The city is well away from previous outbreaks of trouble, which have all been in the north.

'War' demand

The killing of the five soldiers so incensed Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski that called for war to be declared on the rebels.

"A strong military response is the only way to achieve peace," his spokesman, Antonio Milosovski, said.

Declaring a state of war would allow the military to call up all able-bodied men to fight, putting the army in charge of all ground operations against the rebels.

A government recommendation would first have to be put before Macedonia's multi-ethnic parliament. It would have to be passed by a two-thirds majority before it could go into effect.

The crisis has displaced thousands of ethnic Albanians

The BBC's Paul Anderson in Skopje says the statement is more like an expression of frustration at what many Macedonians see as an outrage against their forces.

Macedonia's leaders had suggested a declaration of war last month. But they came under intense Western pressure to pull back from the brink.

Now, the European Union has again appealed to the Macedonian Government not to declare war.

The EU's foreign policy spokesman, Javier Solana, said such a move would only help extremists.

He said he was returning to Skopje on Friday to try to revive an inter-ethnic dialogue.

Mountain ambush

Tuesday night's fighting inflicted the heaviest toll on Macedonian forces since an attack on 28 April left eight soldiers dead.

As well as the five soldiers who died, seven were wounded in the latest ambush.

The incident happened as the soldiers were moving through the mountains near Tetovo to help a police unit under rebel mortar fire.

It marked the return of heavy fighting to the north-west of the country, after a month in which the main focus of the conflict has been a string of villages in the north, near the border with Serbia.

Ethnic Albanian fighters - who launched a rebellion in February - say they are fighting for greater rights for their minority, who make up up to a third of the population.