ARMED CONFLICT BREAKS OUT IN SOUTHERN ALBANIA.

Byline: Associated Press 

Government jets bombed a southern town Wednesday and anti-government militants commandeered tanks and fired off anti-aircraft guns as weeks of unrest erupted into an armed revolt in southern Albania.

The two sides fired at each other across a river east of Vlora, the city at the center of the conflict. Albania's foreign minister, meanwhile, acknowledged that the situation in Vlora, Saranda and Delvina was ``out of control.''

Wednesday's bombing near Saranda and a major security operation launched by the government reflected President Sali Berisha's determination to quickly end the growing insurrection.

At least five T-55 tanks and half a dozen armored personnel carriers manned a checkpoint Wednesday near Fieri, 35 miles south of Tirana. Other government checkpoints also were set up.

In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini said his Albanian counterpart, Tritan Shehu, told him the insurgents had captured three tanks and many other weapons and aim to seize Tirana, the capital.

The government is seeking to ``isolate'' the three southern cities without armed conflict, Shehu said.

Southerners warned the government not to provoke them.

``If they move into Saranda, Albania will see the worst bloodshed ever,'' said one armed protester, Ilias Sideris.

Two months of protests by Albanians who lost savings in shady investment schemes culminated in an orgy of anti-government violence that led Berisha to declare a state of emergency Sunday.

The rebellion has exposed a deep north-south divide in this impoverished Balkan nation, between Berisha's supporters in the north and those who back the opposition Socialists in the south. Overall, southern Albanians are wealthier - and therefore lost much more than northerners in the shady schemes.

Some opposition leaders accuse the government not only of negligence in connection with the schemes but also of profiting from them.

Fearing an attempt to free Fatos Nano, the Socialist leader jailed on corruption charges, the government moved him to a jail near Tirana, his wife said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen said there was no need yet to evacuate Americans in Albania.

In Washington, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said President Clinton was concerned about the situation in Albania and ``views with some alarm'' Berisha's re-election earlier this week by parliament.

British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind said Berisha must respect the rule of law if he wants to get crucial financial aid from other European nations.

``We are not prepared to give support when he acts in an authoritarian and dictatorial way and that, sadly, has been an increasing feature of his regime,'' Rifkind said Wednesday.

The air attack came early Wednesday, when MiG-15 warplanes dropped a bomb next to two houses in the village of Delvina near Saranda. Journalists witnessed the bombing and saw smoke from two bombs dropped on nearby mountains.

About 400 families, mostly ethnic Greeks, live in Delvina. It was not clear if anyone was hurt. Anti-aircraft guns overlooking Saranda fired at the jets that flew over the port.

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Map: Albania