the first civilian backlash by Macedonians grouped in sinister new paramilitary style, 'self-defence' organisations in the southern city of Bitola, 170 kilometres (120 miles) south of Skopje, from where four of the dead soldiers came. Ethnic Macedonian crowds looted and set fire to Albanian shops. Second phase On 6 June another cease-fire was initiated, which lasted eighteen days before being broken by the NLA. Just before noon on 22 July, machine gun and small arms fire shattered the silence once again. As United States and European envoys met with President Boris Trajkovski in Skopje on 23 July, the battle reached Tetovo's suburbs. On 23 July, the Macedonians used ex-Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopters for the first time in the conflict, responding to Albanian mortar fire that wounded 20 civilians in the Koltuk area. Despite the addition of these new helicopters and superior firepower, the army was not experienced at counterinsurgency operations and resorted to sledgehammer tactics. With the hills and mountains behind the city and dozens of Albanian-populated villages to count on for support, the rebels knew they were in a strong position in Tetovo. On 24 July the Macedonian government issued an ultimatum demanding the NLA retreat from their positions in Tetovo and the villages which they took during the ceasefire or face an all out attack. The rebel's abuse of the NATO brokered ceasefire to gain territory and the international observers criticizing of the Macedonian government for using disproportionate force against the rebels prompted the Macedonian government to accuse NATO of siding with the rebels. The NLA would continue to abuse ceasefires to gain ground in the north of Tetovo as Harald Schenker in a report for OSCE would state: {{Blockquote|"The OSCE was in danger of becoming the object of the tensions within the crisis government, particularly as it had no mandate, let alone the power to prevent or even stop the territorial gains that the UCK/ NLA had made in the area north of Tetovo in clear violation of the ceasefire.}} In the Drenovac district, rebels and government forces fought heavily for the town's sports stadium. The fall of the stadium and government checkpoint left the rebels within fifty yards of the city center. Residents of the areas were instructed to leave their homes by Macedonian forces. During the fierce fighting that engulfed Tetovo from 22 to 24 July, a 12-year-old Albanian girl, Jehina Saliu, was mortally wounded in