At least three people were killed and one wounded in a shootout today in Nagorno-Karabakhsaid the Armenian authorities in this region of the Caucasus, which is claimed by the separatists and Azerbaijan.

A statement released by the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh of Armenia says that a group of “saboteurs” of the Azerbaijani army opened fire on the police car of the Armenian administration.

“Three police officers were killed.” — said the source, specifying that the fourth was wounded by a bullet in the chest and taken to the hospital.

For its part, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry denied this version, saying that there were skirmishes after an attempt to drive vehicles allegedly transporting weapons from Armenia to the Baku-controlled zones of Karabakh.

“They opened fire on Azerbaijani servicemen, as a result of the skirmish there were killed and wounded on both sides,” the ministry said, without specifying details.

According to this source, the incident occurred on the road connecting the community of Lisagor (Tursu in Azerbaijani) with Stepanakert, the capital of the Armenian separatists.

For its part, Armenian diplomacy called Azerbaijan’s explanation “absurd”, saying it did not provide any evidence to support the alleged arms transfer.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.