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Azerbaijani officer shot dead near separatist-controlled territory
Associated Press Worldstream
June 8, 2004 Tuesday 12:11 PM Eastern Time
BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Azerbaijan on Tuesday said an army officer was
killed in shooting near territory occupied by ethnic Armenian forces.
The Defense Ministry said that a 28-year-old battalion commander
was killed and another soldier in shooting in the Fizulinsky region,
the ministry said.
Part of the region has been occupied since 1993 by ethnic Armenian
forces who also control the adjacent Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijani forces were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh in fighting
in the 1990s and the Armenian fighters also occupied other nearby
territory as the Azerbaijani forces retreated.
Before the fighting, Nagorno-Karabakh was predominantly ethnic
Armenian.
A cease-fire was signed in May 1994, but Nagorno-Karabakh's final
status has not been resolved and firing sporadically breaks across the
"line of control" demilitarized zone that separates Azerbaijani and
Armenian forces.
Nagorno-Karabakh officials said that there had been a small exchange
of fire including a brief sniper duel between the forces dug down
south east of the enclave. They reported no injuries.
Associated Press Worldstream
June 8, 2004 Tuesday 12:11 PM Eastern Time
BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Azerbaijan on Tuesday said an army officer was
killed in shooting near territory occupied by ethnic Armenian forces.
The Defense Ministry said that a 28-year-old battalion commander
was killed and another soldier in shooting in the Fizulinsky region,
the ministry said.
Part of the region has been occupied since 1993 by ethnic Armenian
forces who also control the adjacent Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijani forces were driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh in fighting
in the 1990s and the Armenian fighters also occupied other nearby
territory as the Azerbaijani forces retreated.
Before the fighting, Nagorno-Karabakh was predominantly ethnic
Armenian.
A cease-fire was signed in May 1994, but Nagorno-Karabakh's final
status has not been resolved and firing sporadically breaks across the
"line of control" demilitarized zone that separates Azerbaijani and
Armenian forces.
Nagorno-Karabakh officials said that there had been a small exchange
of fire including a brief sniper duel between the forces dug down
south east of the enclave. They reported no injuries.