FYROM spiralling into escalating ethnic strife

The government of FYROM declared two days of mourning on Sunday, while the alliance and the EU warned of the danger of escalating violence. The area was marred by an ethnic Albanian insurgency in 2001.

"I urge everyone to exercise restraint and avoid any further escalation, in the interest of the country and the whole region," Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general, said in a statement.

"Any further escalation must be avoided, not the least in the interest of the overall stability in the country." was the message of Johannes Hahn, EU enlargement commissioner late on Saturday.

The government of FYROM claims that eight police and 14 members of an "armed group" were killed after a police raid in Kumanovo.

The raid came as police had been tipped off, perhaps by Serbian intelligence, about armed insurgents from Kosovo who, as claimed, were planning to attack civilian and state targets.

Another 37 officers were wounded in Saturday's pre-dawn raid.

Ivo Kotevski, an interior ministry spokesman, said the attackers were led by ethnic Albanian former rebel commanders from Kosovom naming five leaders of the group, all citizens of Kosovo, as founders of paramilitary cells.

Kotevski said the group became active in YROM in early May with the aim of launching attacks on state institutions. Their hideout was in Kumanovo's western neighbourhood, 40km northeast of the capital Skopje, where police found an arsenal of weapons.

Kotevski said no civilians were reported killed in the raid, which continued into Sunday. Many had fled, carrying their belongings in bags. More than 30 people were arrested.

The FYROM government said that two weeks ago, a group of about 40 people wearing UCK uniforms attacked a police watchtower in Gosince, near the northern border with Kosovo, and briefly captured four police officers.