3 Police Officers Reported Killed in Clash

Macedonia’s peace process plunged into crisis when at least three policemen were reported killed in fighting with ethnic Albanians who were enraged by the arrests of kinfolk in a special forces sweep over truce lines.

Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski sent in the forces ostensibly to secure a “mass grave” site said to contain executed Macedonians, but began arresting former guerrillas despite a government vow of amnesty.

Hours later, 12 Macedonian civilians were taken hostage by Albanian gunmen near the suspected grave site, police said. Three hostages were later freed, police said.

Some members of the Macedonian security forces may have been killed in an ambush by ethnic Albanian fighters near the alleged mass grave, police said.