Tetovo, Macedonia — Government artillery pounded the hills outside Tetovo on Tuesday, as the military issued an ultimatum to ethnic Albanian rebels, giving them 24 hours to end their insurgency or face an all-out assault.
The army said it was joining police and special anti-terror units for the first time in a planned push to drive out the guerrillas holed up around Macedonia's second largest city. It effectively rejected a call by rebels earlier in the day for negotiations to end four weeks of fighting.
"We are using all available means that we have here," army spokesman Blagoje Markovski said.
The artillery fire lasted several hours before stopping in the evening. The army said it would suspend its assault to give the guerrillas 24 hours to either surrender or leave the country.
During that time, government troops will refrain from action, though they will respond to guerrilla attacks, the army said in a statement.
If the ultimatum was ignored, the military would resume the battle after midnight today.
The army guns went silent Tuesday evening.
The army's entrance into the fray signaled Macedonia's intention to snuff out the insurgency that NATO has feared could destabilize the country where ethnic Albanians make up at least a quarter of the population and lead to a wider Balkan conflict.
The rebels say they are a home-grown movement fighting for greater ethnic Albanian rights in Macedonia. But the government claims they are linked to fighters across the border in Kosovo and aim to break off northern Macedonia to form an independent ethnic Albanian state.
Government tanks on Monday moved into Tetovo a largely ethnic Albanian city at the center of recent fighting and NATO peacekeepers in control of Kosovo pledged to "starve" the rebels by cutting supply lines. Amid the government barrage Tuesday, an armored personnel carrier blasted shots at farmhouses.
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