SKOPJE, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Macedonian special police were involved in a shootout during a dawn raid to arrest a "criminal group" in the mainly Albanian area of Tetovo near neighbouring Kosovo, a police source said. Macedonian media reported casualties, but there was no confirmation from police. "The operation started before dawn and is still going on," the police source said. Tensions between the Macedonian government and the country's 25 percent ethnic Albanian minority have risen in recent weeks as the West squares off against Russia over the fate of Serbia's Albanian majority Kosovo province. The western town of Tetovo was the heart of a 2001 insurgency by Albanian guerrillas which was ended by Western diplomacy. (Reporting by Kole Casule and Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Catherine Evans)
