AZERBAIJAN SAYS 3 SOLDIERS KILLED NEAR REBEL REGION

Reuters
Feb 23 2009
UK

BAKU, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Three Azeri soldiers have been killed and
one wounded since Friday in incidents near the breakaway region of
Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azeri Defence Ministry said on Monday.

Two were killed by a landmine on Friday. Another died and one was
wounded in weekend clashes with Armenian soldiers over their tense
front line.

Ethnic Armenian separatists, backed by Armenia, fought a war in the
1990s to throw off Azerbaijan’s control over Nagorno- Karabakh. About
30,000 people were killed.

A fragile ceasefire is in force but a peace accord has never been
signed and incidents are common.

The dispute is one of the most intractable and potentially explosive
in a region vital for oil and gas supplies from Azeri reserves in
the Caspian Sea to Western Europe.

"As a result of violations of the ceasefire by the Armenian side,
from February 19 to 22 three Azeri soldiers died," an Azeri Defence
Ministry spokesman told Reuters. Azeri ANS television reported four
had died and one was wounded.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s de facto authorities reported "ceasefire
violations", including sniper fire, through Saturday, saying its
soldiers had been forced to return fire. There were no Armenian
casualties.

International mediators from the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said last month they hoped for an accord
between Caucasus neighbours Armenia and Azerbaijan in the near future.

Analysts say last year’s war between Russia and Georgia, when Russia
repelled a Georgian assault on breakaway South Ossetia, has lent
fresh impetus to mediation efforts on Nagorno-Karabakh. (Reporting
by Afet Mehtiyeva in Baku and Hasmik Lazarian in Yerevan; Writing
by Matt Robinson; Editing by Giles Elgood)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress