Eight killed in Armenian protests, OSCE sent

By Margarita Antidze

YEREVAN (Reuters) - The United States urged Armenia's warring political forces to start talking after a night of rioting in which eight people were killed and dozens more injured.

President Robert Kocharyan imposed a state of emergency in the capital and ordered troops onto the streets after opposition demonstrators protesting at what they say was a rigged election hurled petrol bombs, looted stores and set vehicles ablaze.

Troops lined the streets and a few armoured personnel carriers could be seen on Sunday, though there was no sign of fresh clashes.

Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who says he was cheated during last month's vote, remained under house arrest.

In Washington, the State Department called on all sides "to avoid further violence, act fully within the law, exercise maximum restraint and resume political dialogue", according to a statement posted on its Web site www.state.gov.

The United States is home to a sizeable Armenian community and is also concerned about disturbances in a region which is emerging as a key transit area for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian Sea to Western markets.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sent an envoy to Yerevan on Sunday to meet the government over the unrest in the former Soviet republic and close Moscow ally.

The state of emergency, effective until March 20, bans all protests and subjects news media to censorship.