Both Nato and the Norwegian government have issued protests to Macedonia following the detention of the Norwegian peacekeeper whose van was involved in an accident which killed Macedonian minister without portfolio Radovan Stojkovski, his wife and daughter.

Nato has confirmed that the K-For driver, who was travelling with another Norwegian soldier, was driving in the wrong direction on a road on 28 August.

The BBC's Nick Thorpe: "The army want the driver handed over to them"

Macedonia's Interior Ministry said on Monday that the soldiers, who were both injured, were supposed to go to the emergency medical centre in Skopje, but that Nato personnel took them to Petrovec airport and put them on a helicopter.

After the accident, Macedonian authorities ordered the closure of border crossings, banned take-offs and seized the two soldiers from the helicopter.

The ministry said that the driver was escorted by Macedonian police to the Skopje clinic where he was placed in custody by an investigating judge.

The other soldier was allowed to depart for Kosovo.

Jurisdiction battle

Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek says that the detention of the Norwegian captain violates the agreement on the operations of the K-For forces.

The agreement stipulates that officers below the rank of major cannot be legally prosecuted in the host countries.

A special session of the Macedonian cabinet has accused Nato of showing disrespect for Macedonian legal processes and said its forces had committed numerous law and order violations since K-For began using Macedonian territory as a base for its operations in Kosovo.

U-turn

The Nato-led peacekeeping force expressed deep regret for the accident after confirming that the Norwegian van caused the collision by driving the wrong way down a road.

K-For public information officer Colin Stone told a news conference that the Norwegian driver had done a U-turn after realising that he was going in the wrong direction.

"Before he could stop and correct the error, a head-on collision resulted," he said.

The Macedonian media reacted angrily to the incident, demanding that the officer be tried in Macedonia.

But K-For believes that any legal measures should be instigated by Norway.

"Norway is the sending nation and therefore retains responsibility for the investigation and any possible resulting legal action," said Mr Stone.

Macedonian police say they have registered 145 serious traffic accidents caused by K-For drivers since March.

Six people are said to have been killed and 45 injured.