Sporadic but intensive firefights broke out between ethnic Albanian rebels and Macedonian security forces Sunday, an official at the defense ministry said.
The official said rebels of the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) opened fire on army positions from the rebel-held villages of Sipkovica and Gajre just northwest of Tetovo, targeting their positions with automatic weapons fire.
The armed forces responded and brief shoot-outs ensued at around 8:00 am and again around 10:45 am (0600 and 0845 GMT), the official said.
Bursts of firing could also be heard around 10:15 am from the village of Selce, where several Macedonian police checkpoints are situated, an AFP reporter in the northwestern town said.
Shooting could still be heard more than an hour later, although Tetovo itself was calm.
The security forces have frequently accused the rebels of using a July 5 ceasefire to regroup and reinforce their positions around the mainly Albanian town, where the guerrillas have set up their own checkpoints on roads just a few hundred metres (yards) from police positions.
The truce, which has been battered by repeated but low-intensity shoot-outs in the area, was designed to give space to talks on political reforms to increase the rights of the large ethnic Albanian minority.
Those talks stalled last week as the Macedonians rejected a Western-backed proposal for Albanian to be granted the status of second official language -- TETOVO, Macedonia (AFP)
