OFFICIAL REPORTS MORE FIGHTING IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH

International Herald Tribune
Sept 18 2008
France

BAKU, Azerbaijan: More than 20 Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers have
been killed in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh since July,
an Azerbaijan government official said Thursday. Armenia disputed
the claim.

Eldar Sabirogly, a spokesman for the Azerbaijan defense ministry,
said at least 15 Armenian soldiers died during that period. He said
the number of Azerbaijani soldiers was about half that number.

However, officials with Armenia’s defense ministry said that Armenia
had lost no soldiers during that period. Officials in Nagorno-Karabakh,
which lies within Azerbaijan, also said their forces had seen no
losses.

Both sides routinely accuse the other of breaking a cease-fire and
try to highlight one another’s military losses.

Armenian and ethnic Armenian forces drove Azerbaijan out of
Nagorno-Karabakh in one of the bloodiest conflicts of the post-Soviet
era. Some 30,000 people were killed and about 1 million were driven
from their homes before the cease-fire was reached in 1994.

The lack of resolution on the region’s status has held up development
in the strategic South Caucasus region and raised fears of a new war
between the two countries.