Police and rebels exchange fire in Macedonia

Macedonia has accused the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army of opening fire on police positions in the north-west of the country, despite an ongoing ceasefire.

Nobody was injured in the attacks, which were targeted at checkpoints on the outskirts of the city of Tetovo.

The main police station in Tetovo also came under gunfire, with bullets hitting sandbags placed around the station for protection.

Macedonian police said they returned fire at rebel positions but a rebel commander accused the police of provoking the gunfight.

The NLA took up arms in February to fight for equal rights for Macedonia’s minority ethnic Albanians.

During the summer, the rebels agreed to disarm and end their uprising under a NATO-brokered peace plan that also required the country’s parliament to introduce laws guaranteeing the rights and political representation of Muslims.

However, some hardline Macedonian Slav nationalists believe the NLA, which they describe as "terrorists",, are still planning to divide the country and unite the ethnic Albanian north-west with Kosovo and, ultimately, a Greater Albania.