Fighting on Macedonia-Kosovo border

President Trajkovski has vowed to protect Macedonia's borders

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Fighting has broken between ethnic Albanian gunmen and Macedonian troops near the Macedonian border with Kosovo.

Heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft guns, were used during Monday's clashes which lasted about one hour, sources told CNN.

The fighting took place near the Macedonian village of Tanusevci, which has been the centre of recent tensions.

The clashes came as Yugoslav leaders vowed to take action against ethnic Albanians who they blame for attacks on Serbs in the buffer zone separating Kosovo from the rest of Serbia.

The gun battle with Macedonian troops is the latest in a series of reported clashes with ethnic Albanian militants belonging to a group called the Army for National Liberation.

Western Macedonia is inhabited mostly by ethnic Albanians who make up one third of the Balkan country's population.

Ethnic Albanians are claiming control of the small area inside Macedonia.

Boris Trajkovski, President of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, appeared on national television on Monday saying recent provocation by groups he described as ethnic Albanians was connected with the tense situation in southern Serbia.

He said Macedonian troops would do all they could to protect their borders.

NATO commanders in Kosovo also believe there could be a connection between all the armed separatist groups in the region.

The head of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo said his troops would step up border patrols on the Macedonian-Kosovo border after reports of incursions by ethnic Albanian fighters.

The Serb and Macedonian governments recently signed an agreement on security cooperation.

The European Union warned the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo last week that they faced international isolation unless attacks on Serbs were halted.

EU officials attending the Balkan summit in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, on Friday warned that continued fighting just outside Kosovo could dry up international aid to the Serbian province.

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NATO acts on Albanian extremists
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Troops clash with ethnic Albanians
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Macedonia Government
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Kosovo Information
NATO
KFOR

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