The flight from Macedonia took about 15 minutes.

The huge Chinook helicopter landed on the road here in the town of Katarnik some 30 kilometres inside Kosovo.

Soldiers of the first battalion, the Parachute Regiment, are going about their business of securing the main road, which will be used for hundreds of Nato vehicles.

Tanks and armoured cars are expected to pass along this route later today on the way to Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.

Defensive positions

British paratroopers left Macedonia training ground on Thursday

The soldiers are crouched along the roadside over their rifles and machineguns, scanning the hills of Kosovo for any threat.

So far they have found none.

Senior officers here have already made contact with the Kosovo Liberation Army. The rebel fighters are proving friendly and welcoming to the Nato troops.

The airborne deployment of British troops into Kosovo is now all but complete with a total of some 1,500 gurkhas and parachute regiment soldiers on the ground.

On the helicopter flight here, tanks and armour could clearly be seen inside Kosovo.