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Situation calm around seized police station in Yerevan — law enforces

The armed group continues holding three hostages, medics from a first-aid unit that arrived to the site after an exchange of fire on Wednesday

© Vahan Stepanyan/PAN Photo via AP

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Armed attackers in Yerevan release one hostage

YEREVAN, July 28. /TASS/. The situation remained calm during the night around the police station stormed and seized by an armed group in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, on July 17, law enforcement officers told Tass on Thursday.

The armed group continues holding three hostages, medics from a first-aid unit that arrived to the site after an exchange of fire on Wednesday. Another hostage, paramedic, was released on the evening of the same day.

According to the Armenian Ministry of Health, 11 people, among them four police officers, are still in hospital after clashes between police and protesters last week.

Three members of the armed group, who were also wounded in an exchange of fire overnight to Wednesday, are in a prison hospital.

During the small hours of July 17, armed extremists riding on a truck, rammed through the gates of a Yerevan police precinct, subsequently storming the premises. In the ensuing shootout, deputy commander of the regiment Colonel Artur Vanoyan was killed, while some of the assailants and some policemen sustained injuries.

In the chaos that followed, the assailants managed to abduct police officers and law enforcement officials who arrived at the scene for negotiations. Among those kidnapped were two senior police officials, Major General Vartan Yegiazaryan, Armenia’s deputy police chief, and Colonel Valery Osipyan, Yerevan’s deputy police chief. They were released only on Saturday.

A skirmish occurred overnight to Wednesday left leader of the armed group Pavel Manukyan, his son Aram, other members of the group and a police officer wounded.

For several days, radical opposition members have been rallying near the police station, demanding that the authorities refrain from carrying out a military operation to free the hostages and neutralize the armed group.

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