Macedonia's ethnic Albanian rebels began handing in more weapons to NATO troops early on Sunday in the northwest village of Brodec, near the volatile town of Tetovo, a military spokesman said.
The collection site opened at 8 am (0600 GMT) with about 10 rebels from the National Liberation Army (NLA) arriving in vehicles about an hour later, French commander Herve Fouilland told AFP.
Among the first weapons handed in to the NATO team of French, German and Spanish troops were 60mm mortars and heavy machine guns, said Fouilland, speaking from the collection site.
Colonel Philippe Bras, in charge of the operation, said more than 100 weapons had been handed over by midday, most of them assault rifles along with some machines guns, mortars and anti-tank mines.
Around 15 NLA rebels were helping supervise the handover operation.
A similar site was set up in Brodec on August 28 during the first phase of Operation Essential Harvest, which aims to gather a total of 3,300 NLA weapons by September 26 -- BRODEC, Macedonia (AFP)
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