PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Kosovo's leading ethnic Albanian politician Friday called for international military intervention after the killings of 12 people this week put the province's fragile truce in jeopardy.

Ibrahim Rugova said the presence of international troops would help bring peace to Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians are fighting for independence from Serbia, the main republic of Yugoslavia.The killings of ethnic Albanians, including eight shot by Yugoslav border guards on Thursday, put a new strain on the de-facto truce, which took hold after Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic agreed in October to pull troops back to avoid NATO airstrikes.

Hundreds of people have died and up to 300,000 have been left homeless since Milosevic launched a crackdown in February against rebels in Kosovo, which is populated overwhelmingly by ethnic Albanians.

"NATO ground troop deployment would provide a greater sense of security," Rugova said at a news conference. The shootings are "a sign that we need a special security force which will protect citizens and stop violence in Kosovo," he added.

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U.S. State Department officials presented a revised peace plan to ethnic Albanian officials Friday in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, a day after U.S. envoy Christopher Hill appealed to Serb officials to accept the changes.

A commander of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, meanwhile, disputed the Yugoslav army's report that the eight ethnic Albanians shot by guards near the Albanian border were guerrillas.

The commander, who gave his name as Sylemetaj, said from Velika Krusa that the victims were refugees returning to the village in southwestern Kosovo.

Western officials who visited the shooting site said it appeared the Albanians had stumbled on the army unexpectedly, raising questions about the army account.

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