Azeris take strategic town

MOSCOW (AFP) - Azeri forces have captured the strategic town of Mardakert and some nearby villages in the north of the disputed enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, Karabakh officials said yesterday. Much of the north of the enclave, which is populated mainly by Christian Armenians, now appears to be under Azeri control. Thousands of refugees were trying to reach Stepanakert, the capital, as fighting raged south of Mardakert, the officials said.

The Armenian foreign ministry in Yerevan sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations and to France to 'end this new Armenian genocide', saying some 28,000 refugees had fled the combat zone for Stepanakert. 'The situation is desperate,' a ministry spokesman said.

In Moldova's breakaway Dnestr region at least 12 people were killed and 35 wounded in continuing fighting overnight, the Moldovan Defence Ministry said yesterday.