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A policemen was killed as an armed Armenian group with links to a jailed opposition leader seized a police building in Yerevan on Sunday and took hostages, demanding the president's resignation.

'A group of armed men entered the premises of a police regiment in Yerevan and is holding hostages under the threat of violence,' Armenia's National Security Service said in a statement.

'One policeman was killed and two others wounded. Two hostages were freed,' it said.

One of the gunmen said on social media that the hostages included the country's deputy police chief.

Nikol Pashinyan, a lawmaker in Armenia's parliament who met the hostage takers, told journalists that the group had taken eight police hostage but then released a hostage who was suffering from high blood pressure.

'The Armenian state continues to operate normally, police carry out their duties to protect public order and security,' the security service said, dismissing rumours on social networks that a coup was underway.


Media reports said that the group was demanding the release of Zhirair Sefilyan, an opposition politician who was arrested last month for alleged procession of firearms.

'We demand the release of Zhirair Sefilyan, we will only obey his orders. Sarkisian must resign,' one of the group members, Varuzhan Avetisyan, wrote on Facebook, referring to Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian..


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