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U.S. warns citizens against visiting Armenian conflict zone

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YEREVAN, March 10 (RIA Novosti) - The United States Embassy in Armenia warned U.S. citizens Friday against visiting areas that have seen renewed violence recently in a conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan.

In particular, the embassy advised against using the Kirants-Baganis-Voskevan stretch of the Ijevan-Noyemberyan highway in Armenia, which is near the dividing line of troops from the two countries.

On Thursday, Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other of numerous ceasefire violations near the disputed territory of Nagorny-Karabakh, which has been at the center of a bitter dispute since the early 1990s.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has reported that Azerbaijani troops have been daily violating the ceasefire regime in this area.

Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Seiran Shakhsuvaryan said Azerbaijani troops continued shooting at Armenian positions in the Ijevan, Baik and Noyemberyan regions through March 7-8.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry, said Armenian troops had fired at Azerbaijani positions 500 kilometers from the capital, Baku, and 250 kilometers from the zone of the Nagorny-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict between the two former Soviet republics over Nagorny-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region with a largely Armenian population, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988 and 1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded in 1994, leaving Nagorny-Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.

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