TETOVO -- The streets of Tetovo are filled with restless young people, a sign of the high unemployment that plagues the city. Crowds gather at the bazaar in the northern part of town, where one can find everything from vegetables to handmade traditional wedding dresses. 

At first sight, the ethnically mixed municipality, which is located 40 kilometers northwest of the Macedonian capital of Skopje, seems like an average though economically depressed city. But the level of anxiety in the city is markedly higher than in many other places: The issue on most people's minds these days is the revival of ethnic tensions between Albanians and Macedonians. 

Since Nov. 7, when Macedonian police raided the remote village of Brodec on the northwestern edge of Tetovo municipality and next to the administrative border of Kosovo, killing seven and capturing 13 "extremist criminals," rumors about a resurgence of tensions similar to those that led to the 2001 ethnic conflict between Albanian and Slavo-Macedonian elements have been spreading. 

According to the latest census in 2007, Albanians represent about 85 percent of the 90,000-member community. Macedonians make up 11 percent, Turks compose 2 percent, and Roma and "others" make up the remaining 2 percent. 

Macedonia's social fabric was profoundly damaged by the 2001 Albanian rebellion, which worsened poverty and underdevelopment and led to the Ohrid agreement that extended minority rights for Albanians. 

Police raids in Brodec have turned up an amazing number of weapons and ammunition, described by Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska as "the largest amount of [heavy] weaponry ... seized thus far in Macedonia." The cache was deemed "sufficient to equip a battalion of 650 soldiers." 

Improvised bunkers containing weapons and ammunition hidden by paramilitaries during the 1999-2001 conflicts in Kosovo and Macedonia are discovered regularly in the forests of the municipality. 

"We really don't know what is going to follow," said Eyup Selmai, head Imam of Tetovo's Muslim religious authority. "There are 13 people held in custody but not charged yet. The day of the skirmish in Brodec, the Albanian satellite TV didn't operate around Tetovo. Police are questioning people about their whereabouts and their ties with extremists. To a great extent, Albanians feel insecure and unwanted. It is like when clouds gather before a storm." 

Macedonian police spokesman Ivo Kotevski said the situation around Tetovo was under control and that the majority of the population supported the crackdown. He also claimed that the operation was executed successfully without civilian losses and that the government will pay for any damage caused during the "Mountain Storm" operation. 

Still, some villagers in Brodec do not accept the official version. According to Iraiet Ahmeti from Brodec, two local men who were among the dead -- Ferat Sahini, 20, and Fidan Fejzulahu, 24 -- and they were reportedly unarmed. "The police say there were no dead civilians, but this is not true," Ahmeti said. 

The majority of the Albanian population here anticipates that Kosovo will unilaterally declare its independence from Serbia after Dec. 10, when negotiations between Belgrade and Kosovar Albanians about the status of the region are supposed to end, should they be unable to reach a compromise. 

Meanwhile, many Macedonians express uncertainty about the region's future. 

"Things were good until the war in 2001; 2002 and 2003 were very tough years for us. Now we control the area, but personally I believe that the independence of Kosovo will bring only further destabilization," said Vladimir I., a police officer working in the municipality of Tetovo who wished to use only his first name. "The dissolution of Yugoslavia brought us back decades." 

Macedonia is currently seeking membership in both NATO and the European Union. 

However, the poor social and economic conditions in Tetovo appear to be fueling a rapid radicalization of the population. The municipality is home to a vast young population and has very high unemployment -- the national official rate is above 30 percent. 

At the school in Brodec, there are just 200 children enrolled, the majority of whom, according to their teachers, will not continue to high school or university mostly because their families do not have the means to support them. 

They are likely to either migrate toward the west or join the largely unoccupied local adult population.