TETOVO, Macedonia (Reuters) - Macedonia said on Sunday its armed forces had taken all key ethnic Albanian guerrilla positions in the hills above the flashpoint city of Tetovo in a full-scale assault with heavy fighting.
The army launched a concerted tank, artillery and infantry offensive at dawn to flush guerrillas out of the hillside positions they have held for the last 12 days.
As the sun set, the hills were quiet and smoking.
Government forces met heavy return fire from rebels hunkered down in hideouts on the scrubby slopes, but conquered at least two of the hills rising behind Macedonia's unofficial ethnic Albanian capital.
Houses were set ablaze and thick black smoke spewed skyward as the two sides exchanged heavy machinegun and automatic rifle fire while artillery and mortars bombarded the hillsides from below.
"All the information shows that the operation is going as planned and we have taken all key points," Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski told Macedonian television.
Want to learn more? http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=world&Repository=WORLD_REP&RepositoryStoryID=%2Fnews%2FIDS%2FWorld%2FINTERNATIONAL-BALKANS-LEADALL-DC_NEW.XML
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The army launched a concerted tank, artillery and infantry offensive at dawn to flush guerrillas out of the hillside positions they have held for the last 12 days.
As the sun set, the hills were quiet and smoking.
Government forces met heavy return fire from rebels hunkered down in hideouts on the scrubby slopes, but conquered at least two of the hills rising behind Macedonia's unofficial ethnic Albanian capital.
Houses were set ablaze and thick black smoke spewed skyward as the two sides exchanged heavy machinegun and automatic rifle fire while artillery and mortars bombarded the hillsides from below.
"All the information shows that the operation is going as planned and we have taken all key points," Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski told Macedonian television.
Want to learn more? http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=world&Repository=WORLD_REP&RepositoryStoryID=%2Fnews%2FIDS%2FWorld%2FINTERNATIONAL-BALKANS-LEADALL-DC_NEW.XML
------------------
"Falling even more in love with you...letting go of all I've held on to...I'm standing here until you make me move...I'm hanging by a moment here with you" - Lifehouse
PsychoticIckyThing
AlienSoup Mod
PsychoticIckyThing.Com