Several thousand supporters of the Bulgarian opposition Socialist party have protested against government plans to let NATO use the country's airspace for bombing neighbouring Yugoslavia.

At a rally in the capital Sofia, Socialist leaders said the centre-right government was planning to push Bulgaria indirectly into an illegal war.

A correspondent for the BBC in Sofia says anti-Nato protests have been fuelled by misfired NATO missiles landing in Bulgaria, one of them damaging a house in the capital.

Our correspondent says the pro-government majority in Parliament is expected to vote on Tuesday to let allied planes use an air corridor along Bulgaria's western border.