SKOPJE: A Macedonian-owned motel was blown up in a guerrilla-dominated zone yesterday as NATO troops prepared to start collecting rebel weaponry under a fragile peace plan menaced by mistrust.

The blast destroyed the Brioni Motel outside the northwestern town of Celopek. The state news agency MIA said two motel employees were inside and "it is still unclear whether they are under the ruins or were kidnapped."

With a pivotal session of parliament dedicated to the first batch of bills enhancing Albanian minority rights scheduled for Friday, NATO planned to open arms collection depots today, well before its full force is in theatre.

NATO needs momentum to ease deep suspicion on both sides.

Macedonia's premier said that if NATO's estimate of guerrilla arms was around 3,000 as widely reported but yet to be made public, the arms round-up would be a ludicrous failure and war would resume after alliance troops went home.

"The talk about only 3,000 pieces of weaponry after five or six months of crisis is ridiculous. I believe that the experts from NATO will correct that number," Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski said on Saturday.

"Without serious disarmament, further fighting is guaranteed," said Georgievski, a nationalist hardliner.

Agencies via Xinhua