RIA Novosti, Russia
March 10 2006

U.S. warns citizens against visiting Armenian conflict zone
16:19 | 10/ 03/ 2006

YEREVAN, March 10 (RIA Novosti) – The United States Embassy in
Armenia warned U.S. citizens Friday against visiting areas that have
seen renewed violence recently in a conflict with neighboring
Azerbaijan.

In particular, the embassy advised against using the
Kirants-Baganis-Voskevan stretch of the Ijevan-Noyemberyan highway in
Armenia, which is near the dividing line of troops from the two
countries.

On Thursday, Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other of numerous
ceasefire violations near the disputed territory of Nagorny-Karabakh,
which has been at the center of a bitter dispute since the early
1990s.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has reported that Azerbaijani troops
have been daily violating the ceasefire regime in this area.

Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Seiran Shakhsuvaryan said
Azerbaijani troops continued shooting at Armenian positions in the
Ijevan, Baik and Noyemberyan regions through March 7-8.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, said
Armenian troops had fired at Azerbaijani positions 500 kilometers
from the capital, Baku, and 250 kilometers from the zone of the
Nagorny-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict between the two former Soviet republics over
Nagorny-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region with a largely Armenian
population, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed
independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988 and
1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded in
1994, leaving Nagorny-Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions
between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.