Armenia was thrust into bloodshed and chaos last night after gunmen shot dead the prime minister, the parliamentary speaker and at least two other senior government officials during an attack on parliament in the capital, Yerevan, spraying the assembly with automatic gunfire.
After hours of conflicting reports, the government and the Armenian church confirmed last night that Mr Vazgen Sarksyan (40), a nationalist who had been prime minister for only four months, had died of gunshots to the chest.
The immediate blame was placed on an Armenian nationalist faction known as the Dashnaktsutyun party. But one faction leader denied any link with the gunmen. "This is a huge loss, morally and politically, for Armenia," said Mr Gegam Manukyan, also a supreme court judge.
Also killed in the hail of gunfire from two or three men in heavy overcoats were Mr Karen Demirchyan, the parliamentary speaker who was a powerful communist in the former Soviet republic; the deputy speaker, Mr Yuri Bakhshyan; and the energy minister, Mr Leonard Petrosyan.
The gunmen were believed to be holed up in the parliament's restaurant last night with 30 hostages while the Armenian President, Mr Robert Kocharyan, negotiated with them and army troops and police ringed the building.
The crisis will certainly further destabilise the Caucasus, where Russia is mired in an escalating war in Chechnya.
The killings also look likely to scupper strong prospects for a final settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan fought a war a decade ago over the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, and the conflict has been stalemated since a ceasefire five years ago. But in recent weeks the two sides have been close to a deal.
The gunmen entered the chamber while the prime minister's speech was being broadcast live nationally. They pulled out pistols and machineguns, shouted that they were launching a coup and opened fire. Deputies and officials cowered under their seats. The shots were heard on live radio.
President Kocharyan was yesterday in parliament negotiating the hostages' release and orchestrating the security crackdown.
"They said they were going to punish the authorities for what they did to the nation," said an Armenian journalist in the chamber during the attack.
Mr Sarksyan was co-leader of the nationalist Unity party, which has taken a hard line over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The attack came within hours of a visit to Yerevan by Mr Strobe Talbott, the US Deputy Secretary of State.