President of Karabakh Shot; Ex-Official Held

YEREVAN, Armenia — Gunmen on Wednesday ambushed the president of Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, seriously wounding him, his driver and a bodyguard.

The enclave’s Interior Ministry said 28 suspects were arrested in the attack on Arkady Gukasyan. Among them was Samvel Babyan, the enclave’s former defense minister, who was fired in December after a dispute with the president. Babyan’s brother, Karen, mayor of the enclave’s capital, Stepanakert, also was arrested.

The gunmen opened fire on the car carrying Gukasyan through Stepanakert shortly after midnight, a statement from the Nagorno-Karabakh government said.

Gukasyan was wounded in the legs and underwent surgery, and his life didn’t appear to be in immediate danger, a spokesman said.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan condemned the attack and offered to help investigate, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

“I hope that the people responsible for the attack will be identified in the near future. They will face trial in keeping with strict law,” Kocharyan was quoted as saying.

Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1988, igniting a war in which an estimated 15,000 people were killed and about 1 million driven from their homes.