Three women were killed and several people wounded in what the Armenian Interior Ministry said on Friday was Azeri shelling and gunfire from across the border the previous night.

The Armenian Defense Ministry condemned the attack as an act of provocation and urged Azerbaijan "to refrain from any steps which are aimed at escalation of the situation." It added that the country would take "appropriate steps to pacify Azerbaijani armed forces,"

Azerbaijan did not comment on the incident, but earlier on Thursday had said Armenian forces had fired on Azerbaijan. Energy-rich Azerbaijan has in recent years increased military expenditures, prompting concern of instability in an already volatile and strategic region.

The deaths are the latest in a two-decade-long conflict between the former Soviet Republics that has claimed nearly 30,000 lives. The two sides have periodically clashed since a ceasefire went into effect in 1994, when ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region separated from Baku.

The region runs its own affairs but is backed financially and militarily by Armenia. Armenian forces also control several areas outside of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan.

OSCE condemnation

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which has mediated peace talks between the two sides, condemned the attack at a time the Minsk group composed of the United States, France and Russia were set to bring the two countries' foreign ministers together on the sidelines of the UN in New York.

"We regret that these incidents took place on the eve of the agreed meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers in New York," the OSCE said in a statement."We expect the Ministers to have a serious discussion on the escalation of violence and the issues surrounding a negotiated settlement."

The OSCE urged the two sides to avoid civilian casualties, although it did not ascribe blame on which side started the latest flare-up in violence.

cs/sms (Reuters, AP, AFP)