Fighting Resumes in Karabakh and Western Georgia

TBILISI, Georgia —  At least 44 people were killed in renewed fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday, a day after the regional government resigned and created a State Defense Committee to rule until clashes end, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency said.

Elsewhere, Georgian and separatist Abkhazian forces exchanged sporadic gunfire Sunday in western Georgia. The Georgian fighting and the clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh have flared since the collapse of central Soviet power.

It was not immediately clear what powers Nagorno-Karabakh’s new ruling State Defense Committee will have, but it is to be the region’s supreme authority.

In Georgia, the death toll rose to 22 in fighting that erupted Friday when Georgian National Guard units marched into Abkhazia in pursuit of allies of ousted Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, according to Abkhazian officials. The Gamsakhurdia supporters had kidnaped several high-ranking Georgian government officials.