Twenty five killed in Azerbaijan's offensive in Karabakh - separatist official

A separatist Armenian human rights official in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Gegham Stepanyan, said on Tuesday that 25 people had been killed in Karabakh as a result of an Azerbaijani military offensive.

According to Stepanyan, two of the victims were civilians. Reuters could not verify his assertion.

Azerbaijan sent troops into Armenian-controlled Karabakh, internationally recognised as pat of its own territory, earlier on Tuesday in an attempt to bring the region to heel by force, raising the threat of a new war with its neighbour Armenia.