Brussels, 29 April 2001 (RFE/RL) -- NATO and the European Union today reacted with outrage to an attack on Macedonian security forces near Macedonia's border with Kosovo yesterday that killed eight soldiers. The Macedonian soldiers were killed in an ambush believed to have been carried out by ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson, in a statement, condemned what he called the cowardly acts of the extremists and said his message is simple -- namely that the violence must end, and that the guerrillas' tactics will not be successful.
The EU, in a statment from the presidency, termed the ambush "a vicious attack" aimed at undermining dialogue between the Macedonian government and the country's ethnic-Albanian minority.
Earlier, the U.S. condemned the killing of the eight soldiers as a "senseless act of violence."
Macedonian defense officials say the ambush took place around noon yesterday in the village of Vejce. A number of other soldiers were reported injured.
NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson, in a statement, condemned what he called the cowardly acts of the extremists and said his message is simple -- namely that the violence must end, and that the guerrillas' tactics will not be successful.
The EU, in a statment from the presidency, termed the ambush "a vicious attack" aimed at undermining dialogue between the Macedonian government and the country's ethnic-Albanian minority.
Earlier, the U.S. condemned the killing of the eight soldiers as a "senseless act of violence."
Macedonian defense officials say the ambush took place around noon yesterday in the village of Vejce. A number of other soldiers were reported injured.