12 ARMENIAN TROOPS KILLED IN CLASH IN KARABAKH

Day.Az
March 4 2008
Azerbaijan

The ministry spokesman, Eldar Sabiroglu, said in a statement late in
the day that three Azerbaijani servicemen werealso killed and one
was wounded in a cease-fire violation that he called an Armenian
"provocation".

"The enemy resorted to provocation in order to divert the attention
of the international community from thebloody events and civil
confrontation in Armenia," Day.az quoted Sabiroglu as saying. "The
Azerbaijani armydisplayed great heroism, responding the enemy fittingly
and dealing him a heavy blow."

Sabiroglu added that the fighting was still underway.

The APA news agency said four Azerbaijani troops were killed in
the clash.

Armenia reported no casualties on its side.

In a statement early on 4 March, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan had blamed Azerbaijan for the violation ofthe cease-fire. He
said that the fire-fight started after the Azerbaijani army seized
an Armenian position to the north of Nagornyy Karabakh.

The region, which is home to 150,000 ethnic Armenians, broke away from
Azerbaijan following a separatist war in the1990s. Major hostilities
ended with a cease-fire in May 1994, but Nagornyy Karabakh has
remained under Armenian control along with seven adjacent districts
of Azerbaijan.

Peace talks mediated by the USA, Russia and France have yielded no
results so far.