TWO KILLED IN NEW KARABAKH FIGHTING: AZERBAIJAN

Agence France Presse
March 10, 2008 Monday 9:34 AM GMT

Two soldiers, one Azerbaijani and one Armenian, were killed Sunday
in continued fighting near the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh,
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said Monday.

The last week has seen unusually heavy clashes along the frontline
dividing Azerbaijani soldiers from Armenian forces in Karabakh, an
ethnic Armenian enclave that broke from Azerbaijani control in the
early 1990s.

One Azerbaijani soldier died in the latest ceasefire violation, which
was started by the Armenian side in the Fizuli region, according to
a spokesman for the Azerbaijani defense ministry.

Azerbaijani forces returned fire, killing an Armenian, the spokesman
said.

However, a spokesman for Armenian forces controlling Nagorny Karabakh,
Seno Hasratian, denied there had been any fighting, saying: "The
ceasefire line is quiet."

Azerbaijan earlier accused Armenian forces of opening fire on a
residential area near Karabakh on Saturday, killing two civilians.

The fighting followed one of the worst breaches of a 1994 ceasefire
in the region in years on Tuesday. Both sides accused the other of
taking advantage of the volatile political situation in Armenia to
violate the ceasefire.

The Armenian capital Yerevan is under a state of emergency after eight
people were killed on March 1 in street battles between riot police and
opposition supporters protesting the result of a presidential election.

Azerbaijan claimed that four of its soldiers and 12 Armenian servicemen
were killed in the fighting Tuesday, while Armenia claimed it had
lost no soldiers and that eight Azerbaijanis died.

Armenian forces seized control of Nagorny Karabakh and seven
surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, in a war that
claimed an estimated 30,000 lives and forced about a million people
to flee their homes.

The two countries have cut direct economic and transport links and
failed to negotiate a settlement on the region’s status.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are spread across a ceasefire line in
and around Nagorny Karabakh, often facing each other at close range,
and shootings are common.