Fighting between police forces and members of an armed group has continued for a second day in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo.

Five police officers were killed and over 30 injured in an exchange of fire with the armed group in the town on Saturday.

Early Sunday, ambulances in Kumanovo were seen carrying more wounded policemen.

Interior minister Gordana Jankulovska told reporters late Saturday that over 20 members of the armed group had surrendered, but that others refused to give up arms and were holed up in houses in Diva Naselba, a neighborhood in western Kumanovo.

She said the "terrorist group," which had entered Macedonia from an unspecified neighboring country, planned plan to "use the current political situation to perform attacks on state institutions."