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Alert

Television crews come under gunfire in Agdam region

(IRFS/IFEX) - According to information provided to IRFS by Lider television station correspondent Habil Aslanoglu, on 14 January 2009, at approximately 4:30 p.m. (local time), employees of the Azad Azerbaijan (ATV) and Lider television stations came under gunfire on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the Agdam region of Azerbaijan. In addition to Aslanoglu himself, the other media personnel affected by the incident were ATV correspondent Hafiz Huseynoglu, ATV camera operator Eldaniz Valiyev and Lider camera operator Ilgar Salmanoglu.

According to Aslanoglu, the journalists were assaulted by Armenian military personnel while they were attempting to film the construction of a church by Armenians in the occupied Shahbulag village. The journalists were able to escape from the area when the Azerbaijani military responded with gunfire.

As a result of a war that took place between Azerbaijan and Armenia from 1992 to 1994, the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh is now occupied by Armenia. Although a cease-fire was declared on 12 May 1994, no peace accord has been signed.