A group of ten men who had crossed into Kosovo from Macedonia opened fire on soldiers from the NATO-led Kosovo force (KFOR) Tuesday evening, a KFOR spokesman said Wednesday.
Shooting broke out when the soldiers tried to stop the group of men as part of its efforts to step up patrol of the border between Kosovo and Macedonia to prevent arms smuggling.
The men used Kalashnikov rifles and the KFOR soldiers returned fire, Captain Daniel Byer told AFP. The group then fled back across the border to Macedonia.
Ten minutes later a mortar fired from the Macedonian side landed on the site of the clash, but no one was injured in that attack, he added.
KFOR troops have been cracking down on the smuggling route between Macedonia and Kosovo, with some 149 arrests over the weekend including 96 suspected members of the rebel group fighting government forces in Macedonia -- PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AFP)
