AZERBAIJANI CIVILIAN KILLED NEAR REBEL KARABAKH: REPORTS

Agence France Presse
Nov 23 2009
France

An Azerbaijani civilian has been killed by Armenian forces near the
disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, Azerbaijani media reported Monday.

ANS television and the Azeri Press Agency reported that the
41-year-old man was killed on Sunday after Armenian forces opened
fire on Azerbaijani positions in the Goranboy region on the de facto
border with Karabakh.

Officials with Azerbaijan’s defence ministry could not be reached to
confirm the reports.

Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian forces seized control of Nagorny
Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in the early
1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

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.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with his Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sarkisian in Germany on Sunday for the sixth round of talks
this year on resolving the conflict.

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