Fighting has escalated along the Kosovo-Macedonia border as government forces continue their offensive against ethnic Albanian rebels.

Slavic offcers defending Macedonia’s second-largest city from ethnic Albanian rebel assaults say they will fight to the end to defend the country and its borders.

The army mounted a heavy artillery attack to push ethnic Albanian rebels northward, but the scene in Shipkovica, a hill town above Macedonia’s second-largest city, reflected a rebel force ready to stay put and step up their fight.

Nato is considering letting Yugoslav forces help keep ethnic Albanian rebels out of Macedonia following clashes there this week.

Nato-led British peacekeepers have been fired upon as they challenged a group of armed men in Kosovo.