ARMENIA FIRMS UP LAND SEIZURE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 5, 1993                   TAG: 9304050029
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium
ARMENIA FIRMS UP LAND SEIZURE
Armenian troops consolidated their control over Azerbaijan's western Kelbajar region Sunday in a significant turn in the 5-year war for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
The fall of Kelbajar opened a second corridor from Armenia into Nagorno-Karabakh, an area in Muslim Azerbaijan that is populated mainly by Christian Armenians.
More than 3,000 people have died in the struggle for Nagorno-Karabakh, making it one of the bloodiest conflicts in the former Soviet Union.
The Moscow-based Interfax news agency and Azerbaijan's Turan news service quoted Azerbaijani military officials as saying Kelbajar and most of the surrounding region were captured late Saturday.
Interfax quoted Azerbaijani Interior Minister Iskander Gamidov as charging that the attack was aided by Russian army troops based in Armenia. A spokesman for Russia's government could not be reached immediately for comment.
Azerbaijani President Abulfaz Elcibey, who declared a nationwide state of emergency Saturday, appealed to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to send a U.N. mission to report on Armenia's attack.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry asked the United Nations to consider sanctions against Armenia.
Acting under Elcibey's decree, military units patrolled Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, on Sunday, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.
Interfax said 15,000 people were in Kelbajar when it fell. All roads connecting the district with the rest of Azerbaijan were captured by Armenians, Turan said.
ITAR-Tass said Armenians had captured about 400 square miles of Azerbaijani territory in the offensive. It quoted refugees from the Kelbajar area as saying Armenians were burning villages and killing captive Azerbaijani civilians and soldiers.
An Armenian report said about 80 Azerbaijani civilians from villages near Kelbajar were taken to Nagorno-Karabakh's capital, Stepanakert, to be exchanged on today for Armenians held by Azerbaijanis.
Interfax quoted unidentified Azerbaijani Interior Ministry officials as saying the attack and effects of cold weather killed 150 people in Kelbajar.
Capturing the district gives Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh forces control of most of the strip of Azerbaijani territory separating Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB