AZERBAIJAN SAYS 5 KILLED IN FIGHTING NEAR REBEL NAGORNY KARABAKH
Agence France Presse
Sept 5 2007
BAKU, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) – Azerbaijan said Wednesday that three
Armenian and two Azerbaijani soldiers had been killed in fighting near
the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, but a separatist official
denied the claim.
Azerbaijani defence ministry spokesman Ilgar Verdiyev said two of
its soldiers were killed after Armenian forces opened fire on their
positions in violation of a ceasefire, in two separate attacks
on Tuesday.
Azerbaijani forces had returned fire, killing three Armenian soldiers,
he said.
Senor Hasratian, a spokesman for the defence ministry of Karabakh’s
unrecognized government, denied there had been any fighting or
any deaths.
"This information does not correspond to reality," he said.
Armenian forces seized control of Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan
in the early 1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives
and forced about a million people on both sides to flee their homes.
The two sides signed a ceasefire in 1994 but 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.