Kosovo: Armed ethnic Albanians from Kosovo briefly seized control of a police station on Macedonia`s northern border, demanding the creation of an Albanian state in Macedonia, police said Tuesday.
"At around 2:30 am (0030 GMT), a group of some 40 armed people coming from Kosovo attacked the Gosince post, located 500 metres (yards) from the border," police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told AFP.
Kotevski said the men wore military fatigues and the logo of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian group that fought for the separation of Kosovo during the 1990s Yugoslavia wars.
The men beat and insulted four policemen in the station, handcuffing three of them.
"We are members of the KLA, go tell (Ali) Ahmeti and (Nikola) Gruevski that they can`t save you," one of the men told the policemen, referring to the leader of the main Albanian party in Macedonia and to Macedonia`s prime minister.
"We want a state, not the Ohrid Agreement," he added, referring to the delicate 2001 peace deal signed between ethnic Albanian leaders and Macedonia.
"Anyone who comes here will be eliminated," he threatened.
The group then left and the policemen abandoned their position, Kotevski said.
Ethnic Albanians make up around one quarter of Macedonia`s population of 2.1 million.
The Macedonian government is facing mounting obstacles in its attempts to join the EU and NATO, and the country is tormented by economic hardship, with unemployment reaching 28 percent.
