Macedonia has accused gunmen "from a neighbouring state" of planning a "terrorist attack" and injuring four police officers, three of them seriously, in clashes.

The clashes took place early on Saturday during a dawn police raid in the northern town of Kumanovo after the authorities "received information on the movement of an armed group," a police spokesman told reporters.

Macedonian police officers stand guard in Kumanovo, Macedonia after violent clashes in which four police were injured. Credit:Reuters

Local media said the operation targeted a part of the town populated mainly by ethnic Albanians and also reported deaths and injuries, including among civilians, but there was no immediate independent confirmation..

"There were plans for an attack on the state institutions by people who illegally entered (Macedonia) from a neighbouring state," police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told reporters.