OFFICIALS: 2 AZERBAIJANI AND 3 ARMENIAN SOLDIERS DIE IN SKIRMISH NEAR NAGORNO-KARABAKH
AP Worldstream
Published: Sep 05, 2007
A skirmish near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh left two
Azerbaijani soldiers and three Armenian troops dead, Azerbaijani
officials said Wednesday. Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia
denied the claim.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Ilgar Verdiyev said the incident
occurred Tuesday when Armenian forces fired on Azerbaijani positions
in the Agdam and Fizuli regions near the boundary of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Senor Asratian, a spokesman for the Nagorno-Karabakh military, denied
there had been any fighting.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Seiran Shakhsuvarian also
dismissed the Azerbaijani claim, saying the "Azerbaijani accusations
of cease-fire violations by us are false."
The incident underscores mounting tension in the disputed territory,
which is officially in Azerbaijan but has been controlled _ along
with some surrounding areas _ by local and Armenian forces since 1994.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been governed by a shaky cease-fire agreement
that ended a six-year separatist war in 1994.
Some 30,000 people were killed and about 1 million driven from their
homes during the fighting. Ethnic Armenians now account for virtually
the entire population of the territory.
Nagorno-Karabakh held presidential elections in July, which Azerbaijan
has rejected as illegitimate.