AZERBAIJAN REPORTS ANOTHER FATALITY IN KARABAKH
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
Oct 3 2005

Another soldier of the Azerbaijani army has been killed in a skirmish
with Armenian forces near Nagorno-Karabakh, reports from Baku said
on Monday.

An Azerbaijani television station reported that the 18-year-old
soldier died from a bullet wound sustained in what it described as a
“truce violation” by the Armenian side in the northern section of the
Karabakh frontline. It said the deadly shooting occurred on Saturday
and was confirmed by Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry. No further details
were reported.

Armenian military sources did not report any fighting along the
heavily militarized line of contact east and north of Karabakh
over the weekend. Sporadic exchanges of fire from automatic weapons
are periodically reported from there by the warring sides, each of
them accusing the other of violating the 11-year ceasefire in the
conflict zone.

The Azerbaijani military, in particular, claims to suffer casualties
on a regular basis. Its previous fatality was reported on September 6.

The ceasefire regime along sections of the Karabakh frontline and
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is monitored by representatives of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The most
recent OSCE monitoring late last month was interrupted by a skirmish
southeast of the disputed territory. Still, truce violations appear
to have become less frequent since last spring when some Armenian
officials suggested that Baku, which regularly threatens by win back
Karabakh by force, be preparing for large-scale military action.

Renewed fighting seems even more unlikely now that the parties are
reportedly close to reaching a long-awaited agreement on the resolution
of the Karabakh dispute.