Armenia Confirms Shoot-Out With Azerbaijani Forces

Armenia and Azerbaijan have traded accusations of responsibility for a deadly border incident that occurred while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Yerevan.

Armenia on June 5 confirmed that five Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in shoot-outs between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, and blamed the incident on Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry had reported the incident earlier in the day, saying that its troops thwarted an attempt of "Armenian saboteurs group" to infiltrate Azerbaijani territory.

Azerbaijani officials on June 4 had rejected an Armenian statement saying three of its troops had died in a border incident.

Clinton, who is currently on her tour in the Caucasus, warned in Yerevan on June 4 that tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, the separatist Armenian-populated territory inside Azerbaijan, could escalate into a "much broader conflict."

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS