Azerbaijan says Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh fired on its troops

Azerbaijan says Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh fired on its troops

AP Worldstream
Mar 08, 2005

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its soldiers came under
fire from ethnic Armenian forces near the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

The ministry said several Azerbaijani soldiers were wounded in the
shooting after dark Monday and that some Nagorno-Karabakh forces were
killed, but did not give details.

However, the Ministry of Defense of Nagorno-Karabakh’s government,
which is not recognized by most of the world, said in a statement
that none of its forces were killed and it blamed the shooting on a
penetration attempt by Azerbaijani soldiers.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been under the control of ethnic Armenians
since the early 1990s, following fighting that killed an estimated
30,000 people. A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave’s
final political status has not been determined and shooting breaks out
frequently between the two sides, which face off across a demilitarized
buffer zone.

The Armenian forces also hold some territory adjacent to
Nagorno-Karabakh.