Macedonian police say pursue "armed group", media report gunfire

* Police say received information about "armed group"

* Large community of ethnic Albanians lives in the area

* Government on ropes over allegations of abuse of power

By Kole Casule

SKOPJE, May 9 (Reuters) - Police in Macedonia launched an operation early on Saturday against what a spokesman said was an "armed group" on the outskirts of the northern town of Kumanovo, the scene of fighting during a 2001 insurgency by ethnic Albanian guerrillas.

A second official, who declined to be named, said one officer had been wounded and local media reported the sound of automatic gunfire and smoke seen rising above the town. The operation began at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT), the spokesman said.

Helicopters flew over the town, 40 km (25 miles) from the capital Skopje and just south of Macedonia's northern border with Serbia and its former Kosovo province, which declared independence in 2008.

A large community of ethnic Albanians lives in the area, part of a minority in the country estimated at some 30 percent of Macedonia's 2 million people.

In 2001, ethnic Albanian guerrillas clashed for months with security forces before Western diplomacy brokered a peace deal offering Albanian greater rights and representation. But implementation has been slow and tensions often flare.

Last month, police said a group of some 40 armed men speaking Albanian took four police officers hostage near the northern border with majority-Albanian Kosovo, before disppearing without trace.

Since late January, the government of the former Yugoslav republic is on the ropes over opposition allegations of illegal wire-tapping and widespread abuse of power. (Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Louise Ireland)