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Azerbaijan blames Armenia for clash near disputed area

Officials in Azerbaijan and Armenia made conflicting casualty claims yesterday after clashes near the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of deliberately stoking unrest in Nagorno-Karabakh, following a shootout there in which it said 15 soldiers had been killed. The Azeri Defense Ministry said 12 Armenian forces and three Azeri soldiers died in Tuesday's clashes.

It was one of the worst clash in recent years between Muslim Azerbaijan and Christian Armenia, who are still technically at war after the 1992-1994 war between Armenian-backed separatists and the Azeri army in the enclave.

Armenia has been volatile since last Saturday, when President Robert Kocharyan imposed a state of emergency following mass protests against last month's presidential election, which the opposition says was rigged.

"The Armenian side resorted to provocations on the frontline in a bid to switch the attention of the international community and its own citizens from internal tensions to an external enemy," said Khazar Ibrahim, an Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman.
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