Agence France Presse
July 2, 2004

Azeri teenage soldier held prisoner by Armenia:
defence ministry

BAKU (AFP) Jul 01, 2004

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry said Thursday that one of its soldiers
was being held prisoner by Armenian forces, apparently after he
wandered across the front line which separates the two neighbours. A
statement from the ministry said the 19-year-old private went missing
while serving in Azerbaijan’s Agdam region, close to disputed
territory which has been occupied by Armenian forces since a war in
the early 1990s.

The statement said the serviceman may have been taken by Armenian
troops after he got lost on the heavily-militarised front line, which
is dotted with landmines.

The Red Cross was helping negotiate the soldier’s release, the
statement added. There was no immediate confirmation of the report
available from the Armenian side.

Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, fought a
five-year war for control of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
which cost the lives of an estimated 35,000 people.

A ceasefire was signed in 1994, leaving Armenian forces in de facto
control of Karabakh and surrounding Azeri regions.

Skirmishes along the ceasefire line are a frequent occurrence. Dozens
of soldiers are killed each year in landmine accidents or by snipers
on the opposing side.