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BAKU ACCUSES ARMENIA OF KILLING 5 AZERI SOLDIERS
Today's Zaman
June 5 2012
Turkey
Azerbaijan accused arch rival Armenia on Tuesday of killing five
soldiers near the two countries' shared border in the second day of
violence that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned could
spiral into a broader regional conflict.
The violence comes the day after a skirmish on the Azeri-Armenian
border which killed three Armenian soldiers and wounded others on
both sides. Clinton, on a trip to the South Caucasus, voiced concern
that violence could lead to a "broader conflict".
Tuesday's skirmish occurred around 06:30 a.m. (0130 GMT). Another
clash killed one more Azeri soldier.
"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," the Defence Ministry of the Muslim oil
producing country's said in a statement.
Clinton, who visited Armenia on Monday, is due to make a half-day
trip to Azerbaijan on Wednesday.
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 two decades ago.
The latest incidents, however, took place more than 400 kms (250
miles) away from Nagorno-Karabakh, where sporadic violence still
flares along a ceasefire line negotiated in 1994.
Some 30,000 people were killed and about 1 million became refugees,
the majority in Azerbaijan.
Recent years have seen skirmishes around the Nagorno-Karabakh frontline
and the two countries' shared border, raising fears of a return to
full-blown conflict in the South Caucasus, a vital route for oil and
natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe.
Efforts at reaching a permanent settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict have failed, despite mediation led by France, Russia and
the United States.
Today's Zaman
June 5 2012
Turkey
Azerbaijan accused arch rival Armenia on Tuesday of killing five
soldiers near the two countries' shared border in the second day of
violence that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned could
spiral into a broader regional conflict.
The violence comes the day after a skirmish on the Azeri-Armenian
border which killed three Armenian soldiers and wounded others on
both sides. Clinton, on a trip to the South Caucasus, voiced concern
that violence could lead to a "broader conflict".
Tuesday's skirmish occurred around 06:30 a.m. (0130 GMT). Another
clash killed one more Azeri soldier.
"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," the Defence Ministry of the Muslim oil
producing country's said in a statement.
Clinton, who visited Armenia on Monday, is due to make a half-day
trip to Azerbaijan on Wednesday.
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 two decades ago.
The latest incidents, however, took place more than 400 kms (250
miles) away from Nagorno-Karabakh, where sporadic violence still
flares along a ceasefire line negotiated in 1994.
Some 30,000 people were killed and about 1 million became refugees,
the majority in Azerbaijan.
Recent years have seen skirmishes around the Nagorno-Karabakh frontline
and the two countries' shared border, raising fears of a return to
full-blown conflict in the South Caucasus, a vital route for oil and
natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe.
Efforts at reaching a permanent settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict have failed, despite mediation led by France, Russia and
the United States.