Officials in Azerbaijan and Armenia made conflicting casualty claims Wednesday after clashes near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, AP reported. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry accused the Armenian forces of starting the fighting Tuesday and said three of its servicemen had been killed and one wounded. Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu said 12 Armenian soldiers had been killed and another 15 were wounded during several hours of skirmishes. Sabiroglu said that fighting ceased shortly after midnight. A military spokesman for ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, Senor Asratian, said late Tuesday that eight Azerbaijani soldiers had been killed and two of the separatist region's soldiers wounded in clashes northeast of the region. The clashes came as Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliev, issued his latest suggestion that his country could use force to regain control over Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is inside Azerbaijan but _ along with some surrounding territory _ has been under ethnic Armenian control since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year war. Statements by officials on both sides suggested the fighting was heavier than most of the skirmishes that intermittently break out along a cease-fire line dividing territory held by rival forces.
