ARMENIAN SOLDIER DIES AFTER BEING WOUNDED BY AZERBAIJANI FIRE, OFFICIALS SAY

Associated Press Worldstream
October 18, 2006 Wednesday 7:22 PM GMT

An Armenian soldier has died after being wounded by Azerbaijani
fire near the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, officials said
Wednesday.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said the soldier died in a hospital
after he had been wounded in his chest by an Azerbaijani sniper near
the so-called line of control separating Azerbaijani and Armenian
forces. It didn’t say when the incident occurred.

There was no immediate comment from the Azerbaijani side.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan, but
it has been controlled along with some surrounding areas by Karabakh
and Armenian forces since 1994. A shaky cease-fire in 1994 ended the
six-year conflict, in which 30,000 people were killed and about 1
million driven from their homes.

Attempts to resolve the conflict have failed.