One dead in attack on Azerbaijan mosque

3 Sep 2010, 6:26 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Gunmen have opened fire on a crowd outside a mosque, killing one person, in Azerbaijan's Gumbashly village near the border with Iran, media reported.

Gunmen opened fire on Friday on a crowd outside a mosque, killing one person and wounding another, in Azerbaijan's Gumbashly village near the border with Iran, local media reported.

Several cars of armed men drove into Gumbashly in the early morning and opened fire on a crowd gathered outside a mosque, Novosti-Azerbaijan and ANS TV channel reported, citing local police.

Police said two suspects had been arrested and an investigation into the incident was underway.

The authorities in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, a largely Muslim country of 8.7 million on the Caspian Sea, have warned of the rising threat from Islamic militants, jailing dozens of alleged extremists in recent years.

They include two Lebanese and four Azerbaijani citizens convicted last year of plotting attacks on the Israeli and US embassies in Baku.

But critics accuse the Azerbaijani authorities of using the threat of extremism as a cover for persecuting political opponents.

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