Tweet
BAKU ACCUSES ARMENIA OF KILLING 5 AZERI SOLDIERS
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/05/azerbaijan-armenia-idUSL5E8H59M520120605
June 5 2012
(Reuters) - Azerbaijan accused arch rival Armenia on Tuesday of
killing five Azeri soldiers near their border in a second day of
violence that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned could
turn into a broader regional conflict.
A day earlier, three Armenian soldiers were killed and several soldiers
on both sides wounded in a border skirmish.
Tuesday's skirmish occurred around 06:30 a.m. (0130 GMT). Another
Azeri soldier died in a separate clash.
"A group of saboteurs from Armenia undertook an attempt to infiltrate
a position of the Azeri armed forces ... In the course of battle
four Azeri soldiers died," Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said in
a statement.
Clinton, who visited Armenia on Monday, voiced concern that the
violence could lead to a "broader conflict". She is due to make a
half-day trip to Muslim, oil-producing Azerbaijan on Wednesday.
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov told journalists he would
discuss the violence with Armenia's foreign minister at a meeting in
Paris on June 18.
War between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the
mostly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region, which broke away from Muslim
Azerbaijan with the backing of Christian Armenia as the Soviet Union
collapsed.
The latest incidents, however, took place more than 400 kms (250 miles)
from Nagorno-Karabakh, where sporadic violence still flares along a
ceasefire line negotiated in 1994.
Some 30,000 people were killed in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
about 1 million became refugees, the majority in Azerbaijan.
In the last few years there have been skirmishes around the
Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire line and the two countries' border, raising
fears of a return to full-blown conflict in the South Caucasus,
where vital oil and natural gas flow from the Caspian region to Europe.
Efforts to reach a permanent settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict have failed, despite mediation led by France, Russia and the
United States. (Reporting By Lada Yevgrashina; Writing by Thomas Grove;
Editing by Tim Pearce)
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/05/azerbaijan-armenia-idUSL5E8H59M520120605
June 5 2012
(Reuters) - Azerbaijan accused arch rival Armenia on Tuesday of
killing five Azeri soldiers near their border in a second day of
violence that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned could
turn into a broader regional conflict.
A day earlier, three Armenian soldiers were killed and several soldiers
on both sides wounded in a border skirmish.
Tuesday's skirmish occurred around 06:30 a.m. (0130 GMT). Another
Azeri soldier died in a separate clash.
"A group of saboteurs from Armenia undertook an attempt to infiltrate
a position of the Azeri armed forces ... In the course of battle
four Azeri soldiers died," Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said in
a statement.
Clinton, who visited Armenia on Monday, voiced concern that the
violence could lead to a "broader conflict". She is due to make a
half-day trip to Muslim, oil-producing Azerbaijan on Wednesday.
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov told journalists he would
discuss the violence with Armenia's foreign minister at a meeting in
Paris on June 18.
War between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the
mostly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region, which broke away from Muslim
Azerbaijan with the backing of Christian Armenia as the Soviet Union
collapsed.
The latest incidents, however, took place more than 400 kms (250 miles)
from Nagorno-Karabakh, where sporadic violence still flares along a
ceasefire line negotiated in 1994.
Some 30,000 people were killed in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
about 1 million became refugees, the majority in Azerbaijan.
In the last few years there have been skirmishes around the
Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire line and the two countries' border, raising
fears of a return to full-blown conflict in the South Caucasus,
where vital oil and natural gas flow from the Caspian region to Europe.
Efforts to reach a permanent settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict have failed, despite mediation led by France, Russia and the
United States. (Reporting By Lada Yevgrashina; Writing by Thomas Grove;
Editing by Tim Pearce)