At least, he said, there had been no new reports for several days of Armenian militias harassing Azerbaijani villages on the fringes of the small enclave.

The oblast's borders were drawn to include Armenian villages and to exclude as much as possible Azerbaijani villages.

Virtually every Azerbaijani village in Karabakh has been pulverized, rendered uninhabitable.

Starting in late autumn of 1991, when the Azerbaijani side started its counter-offensive, the Armenian side began targeting Azerbaijani villages.

The village served as a base for armed raids against the civilian population of the surrounding Azerbaijani villages of Shafag and Zeyve.

In 1899 a silver plate featuring Roman toreutics was excavated near Azerbaijani village of Qalagah.

Two Armenians who tried to use an anti-aircraft gun to shell Azerbaijani villages died on Thursday when a shell exploded, Tass said.

Azerbaijani villages came under attack from Armenian forces, and a helicopter was shot down on April 11.

Its borders were drawn to include as many Armenian-populated villages and excluded as many Azerbaijani villages as possible.

His earlier stories describe an Azerbaijani village of post-revolutionary years and a struggle against patriarchal and feudal relations.