By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer

 DEBELDE, Yugoslavia (AP) - U.S. peacekeepers in Kosovo - working to cut off supplies
 to rebels in Macedonia - wounded two ethnic Albanian insurgents Wednesday, fueling
 tension along the border where clashes threaten to ignite another Balkan war.

 Nearby, in southern Serbia's Presevo Valley, three Yugoslav soldiers were killed Wednesday
 when their vehicle hit a land mine. The soldiers were traveling outside the village of Oreovica,
 on the edge of a three-mile-wide buffer zone between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia.

 Less than two years after international peacekeepers moved into Kosovo, rising separatist
 tensions at the borders have sparked fears of another round of large-scale fighting. The
 overwhelmingly Albanian province is technically part of Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav
 republic.

 U.S. soldiers were searching for weapons Wednesday in the Kosovo village of Mijak, on the
 Macedonia border, when men in black uniforms with red patches pointed their weapons at
 them, the U.S. military said.

 Considering the action a provocation, the U.S. peacekeepers opened fire, the military said.
 Three people were arrested. Two gunmen were wounded.

 ``We don't want any more violence, but this will be up to those armed men,'' said U.S. Maj.
 James Marshall.

 Debelde Mayor Hamdi Hasani accused the U.S. peacekeepers of indiscriminate arrest and
 harassment of ethnic Albanians, including some who fled fighting this week in the Macedonian
 village of Tanusevci.

 ``If the arrest of refugees from Tanusevci continues, we are going to leave this place and seek
 refuge somewhere else,'' the mayor said.

 In New York, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said 250 people crossed into Kosovo on
 Wednesday from another Macedonian village, Mala Malina. Eckhard said the refugees
 reported heavy shooting and told of fleeing on foot and horseback. He estimated the total
 number of refugees from the region at 800.

 Macedonia's ethnic Albanian community makes up about one-fourth of the country's 2 million
 population.

 About seven miles to the northeast, ethnic Albanian rebels in southern Serbia are fighting
 Yugoslav forces in the Presevo Valley. The area is within a three-mile-wide buffer zone set
 up as part of a 1999 peace deal ending the NATO (news - web sites)'s 78-day bombing
 campaign. The air campaign was launched to stop former Yugoslav President Slobodan
 Milosevic (news - web sites)'s crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

 Rebels in both Macedonia and southern Serbia are believed to be aided by extremists in
 Kosovo, who seek an independent ethnic Albanian state.

 The latest violence came as NATO ambassadors considered a proposal to allow Serb forces
 into the buffer zone to help cut off a rebel supply corridor. NATO's highest policy-making
 body adjourned without agreement Wednesday.

 Also Wednesday, Macedonia's foreign minister asked the U.N. Security Council to support
 the creation of a buffer zone on its border with Kosovo, similar to the one that exists
 separates the province from the rest of Serbia. NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson
 ruled out the creation of such a zone Tuesday, saying border patrols should be stepped up
 instead.

 Fighting this week prompted Macedonia to close its borders with Kosovo. The Macedonians
 allowed traffic to resume Wednesday after appeals by international officials.