LACHIN CORRIDOR, October 27 (Online): Wearing camouflage and holding Kalashnikov rifles, volunteer villagers patrol a winding river in a Nagorno-Karabakh valley, defending a strategic area between the disputed region s capital and Armenia. Cannons are heard firing nearby at regular intervals as they too stand guard, covering the noisy gurgle of the Hakari river that flows between the wooded hills. The valley leads to the Lachin corridor, a strategic point that links the ethnic Armenian region of Azerbaijan with Armenia proper. For more than a month, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in bitter fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous province that was seized by Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan in a 1990s war that left 30,000 people dead. In the first days of the latest flare-up in fighting that erupted on September 27, Baku destroyed a bridge that goes over the Hakari river. Since then, cars and trucks have to take a small diversion on a bumpy dirt road. Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, is just an hour away. The valley descends parallel to the Armenian border, towards the southern front where battles rage between Armenian separatist fighters and Azerbaijani soldiers. It s in this direction that the cannons are … Continue reading Armed villagers guard strategic gateway to Nagorno-Karabakh