8 Killed in Renewed Fighting on Armenia-Azerbaijan Border

MOSCOW — At least eight soldiers have been killed in two days of renewed fighting this week along the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, stirring tensions just as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is visiting the region. 

Armenia and Azerbaijan, former Soviet republics in the South Caucasus, have been at war over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh for more than 20 years.

The Azeri Defense Ministry said five of its soldiers were killed in fighting on Tuesday morning on the border near Gazakh. Armenia said three of its soldiers were killed in nearby villages on Monday.

Each nation blamed the other for the outbreak of violence.

Azerbaijan said Armenian soldiers opened fire on Tuesday, while Armenia said its forces had intercepted a contingent of Azeri soldiers trying to cross the border. “The group was discovered and neutralized,” the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Even before the added deaths on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton, who is making a diplomatic swing through Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan this week, expressed concern about the violence.

“The president and I had a serious discussion of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the most recent incidents along the front lines,” Mrs. Clinton said after meeting with President Serzh Sarkisian of Armenia in Yerevan, the capital.

“While I had only just learned of these incidents, I am very concerned about the danger of escalation of tensions and the senseless deaths of young soldiers and innocent civilians,” said Mrs. Clinton, according to a State Department transcript. “The use of force will not resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and therefore force must not be used. And we are calling on everyone to renounce force as well as refraining from violence.”

(Fuente: The New York Times)