BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Azerbaijan and Armenia, at odds over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh enclave, traded accusations Thursday over cross-border shootings.
An Azeri Defense Ministry spokesman said Armenian forces fired machine guns at an army post Tuesday, lightly wounding a soldier in the northern sector of the border between the two Trans-Caucasus republics.
An Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman in Yerevan denied there was any shooting Tuesday and said the last clash had taken place Monday when Azeri troops opened fire on Armenian positions in the same area.
Baku and Yerevan are involved in a protracted conflict over Karabakh, an Armenian-populated enclave in Azerbaijan.
Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s and now claims full independence in the hope of merging with Armenia at some stage.
Tens of thousands of people died in hostilities before a 1994 truce.
Armenia says it was not involved in the war but offered political, military and economic backing to its ethnic kin in the enclave. Karabakh forces now control a considerable part of Azeri territory outside the enclave.
Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan's resignation last week forced the unresolved issue of Karabakh's status back into the limelight after three years of fruitless talks on a long-term political settlement mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Ter-Petrosyan, who has advocated the OSCE compromise, resigned under pressure from opponents led by Prime Minister Robert Kocharyan.
Despite the truce, gunfire is not unusual along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.
An Armenian soldier who shot dead an officer and five other soldiers as they slept killed himself when military police caught him in the center of the capital, Yerevan, early Thursday, an official said. "The man was found on Republic Square in the town center by the military police ... and in their presence he shot himself," a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry said by telephone.
The soldier, 22-year-old Mkrtich Okhanyan, fled after shooting the officer and five soldiers Wednesday.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.