ITAR-TASS, Russia
Jan 27 2005
Azeri soldier is reportedly killed in Nagorno-Karabakh
BAKU, January 27 (Itar-Tass) – The Defence Ministry of Azerbaijan has
confirmed the death of an Azeri soldier in a fire exchange near the
Shurabad village in a district adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh. The fire
came from the Armenian side’s territory, the Ministry went on to say.
The Defence Ministry refuted some local media reports that military
hostilities were under way in that direction. It said that the Azeri
soldier was killed by a single shot on Thursday.
In the meantime, a spokesman for the Defence Ministry of
Nagorno-Karabakh has denied reports of a shootout on the borders of
the unrecognised republic.
Colonel Senor Asratyan, the press service chief of the Defence
Ministry of Nagorno-Karabakh, told Itar-Tass by telephone that the
situation in Nagorno-Karabakh was calm.
The authorities in Stepanakert have described reports about the Azeri
soldier’s death as `misinformation’, which Baku is disseminating
intentionally on the eve of the arrival of an OSCE monitoring group.