Rivals Battle in Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 4 -- Ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged fire for hours Tuesday near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, officials said.

The region is inside Azerbaijan but has been under ethnic Armenian control since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year war.

A spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh's military force said eight Azerbaijani soldiers were killed; Azerbaijani officials declined to comment on casualties. A local news report said three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed.

The clashes came as Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, issued his latest suggestion that his country could use force to regain control over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Statements by officials on both sides suggested the fighting was heavier than most of the skirmishes that break out intermittently along a cease-fire line dividing territory held by rival forces.

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia are former Soviet republics.