BAKU, (Reuters) - Two Azeri servicemen and a civilian were killed on Friday when their car hit a landmine on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, a defense ministry spokesman said.
"A captain, a senior lieutenant of the Azeri armed forces and a villager from the region were killed by a mine near the Azeri-Armenian border," the spokesman said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia were driven to war in the last days of the Soviet Union over the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is within Azeri borders but broke away from Baku in 1988. The conflict cost the lives of some 35,000 people and left one million homeless.
Although Armenia and Azerbaijan are nominally at peace since a 1994 ceasefire, the border between the two Caucasus states remains heavily mined and the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave is still disputed.
Azeri agencies said on Friday mines along the Armenian-Azeri border have killed some 300 people and injured 1,100 others over the past decade. Azerbaijan has only 45 sappers working along the border, but a further 75 are due to begin work at the end of the month after training under U.S. experts.
"A captain, a senior lieutenant of the Azeri armed forces and a villager from the region were killed by a mine near the Azeri-Armenian border," the spokesman said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia were driven to war in the last days of the Soviet Union over the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is within Azeri borders but broke away from Baku in 1988. The conflict cost the lives of some 35,000 people and left one million homeless.
Although Armenia and Azerbaijan are nominally at peace since a 1994 ceasefire, the border between the two Caucasus states remains heavily mined and the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave is still disputed.
Azeri agencies said on Friday mines along the Armenian-Azeri border have killed some 300 people and injured 1,100 others over the past decade. Azerbaijan has only 45 sappers working along the border, but a further 75 are due to begin work at the end of the month after training under U.S. experts.