RIVALS BATTLE IN AZERBAIJAN
The Washington Post
March 5, 2008 Wednesday
Ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged fire for hours Tuesday
near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, officials said.
The region is inside Azerbaijan but has been under ethnic Armenian
control since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year war.
A spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh’s military force said eight
Azerbaijani soldiers were killed; Azerbaijani officials declined to
comment on casualties. A local news report said three Azerbaijani
soldiers were killed.
The clashes came as Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, issued his
latest suggestion that his country could use force to regain control
over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Statements by officials on both sides suggested the fighting was
heavier than most of the skirmishes that break out intermittently
along a cease-fire line dividing territory held by rival forces.
Both Azerbaijan and Armenia are former Soviet republics.