Killings spark Macedonia war call

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Macedonia's prime minister has called for a state of war to be declared following the killing of five soldiers by ethnic Albanian rebels.

Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski made the call on Wednesday, his spokesman told Reuters news agency.

Declaring a state of war would allow the military to call up all able-bodied men to fight against ethnic Albanian rebels, Georgievski's spokesman Antonio Milosovski said.

"A strong military response is the only way to achieve peace," he said.

A two-thirds majority vote in parliament is needed to approve such a declaration.

Macedonia called for a state of war in early May after a rebel attack killed eight soldiers.

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Western powers persuaded it not to make the declaration, fearing it would rock the fragile Balkans.

The five Macedonian soldiers were killed overnight in an ambush as they escorted a medical team, government officials say.

Six military personnel were also injured in the fighting above Tetovo, the country's main ethnic Albanian town, the officials told Reuters news agency.

The soldiers were escorting a medical team to help six soldiers wounded in clashes that broke out late on Tuesday, the army said.

The deaths were the heaviest toll Macedonian forces have suffered during the ethnic Albanian uprising since eight soldiers died in an ambush on April 28.

Ethnic Albanian rebels launched a rebellion in February to fight for greater rights for their minority, a third of the population.

Macedonia says the rebels are trying to grab land and destroy the state.

Macedonia on Tuesday asked the United States and its allies to help stop the flow of money and weapons from the ethnic Albanian diaspora which it believes is helping fuel the insurgency.

Meanwhile, Balkan defence ministers, holding an informal ministerial meeting in Greece, called on ethnic Albanian rebels to stop fighting Macedonian troops.

Macedonian Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski asked for a minute's silence at the beginning of the meeting for the five soldiers killed, sources close to the talks told Associated Press news agency.

Macedonian State Secretary Vladimir Gjoreski said weapons and rebels continue to enter Macedonia from Kosovo.

"We are facing terrorists directly endangering our territorial integrity," he said after the meeting.

Macedonia "requests from the international community, NATO and KFOR to intensify their support in all fields, and engage all methods and means that would enable the terrorists to leave the country," he said.

Delegations from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Slovenia, Italy, the U.S. and the Ukraine participated in the talks in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

"The ministers reiterated their full support to the broad all-parties coalition government ... as well as their condemnation of continuing terrorist actions by extremists elements, who are urged to cease their activities," they said in a statement.

"Any response to extremist provocations must remain proportionate and should avoid civilian casualties."

They also "stressed the need to intensify the dialogue on inter-ethnic relations" in the Macedonian parliament and talks between party leaders "in view of achieving urgently needed reforms, notably in the field of minority rights."

Albanian Defence Minister Ismail Lleshi reiterated Albania's condemnation of the violence.

"We urge the new coalition government in Skopje to work with maturity together with the democratically elected Albanian political factors to calm down the situation and solve the crisis," he said.

"Every passing day would aggravate the situation and would make the solution increasingly difficult."