Fears of a military coup in Armenia worsened yesterday when the army warned it would not stand by while the country's security was under threat, following the assassination of the prime minister, Mr Vazgen Sarkisyan, during a raid on parliament.
In a statement broadcast continuously yesterday, the army demanded action over the security lapse that enabled five men to walk into the parliament in the capital, Yerevan, on Wednesday and kill eight people in a spray of automatic gunfire.
"The internal and external security of the state is in danger," said the army statement. Military leaders were furious that one of their own, Mr Sarkisyan, who twice served as defence minister, had been killed in what the military called a plot against the state.
"The national army cannot stand idly by. We demand the dismissal of the General Prosecutor, the Interior Minister, and the Security Minister," the leaders said in the statement. "A treacherous and premeditated crime was committed. It was a plot aimed at Armenia's statehood and against the future of the Armenian nation."
The Interior Minister, Mr Suren Abramian, resigned last night but denied the resignation was in response to calls by the military for him to resign.
It was not clear what action the army chiefs would take if the demands went unheeded. "I hope there will not be a coup," said Mr Van Ovanesyan, chairman of the parliament's defence and security committee. "But unfortunately I can't say the situation is very smooth or peaceful."
The assassination and hostage drama ended yesterday morning when the gunmen, led by an ardent nationalist, Mr Nairi Unanyan, surrendered their weapons and released the last of some 40 hostages following a night of negotiations with President Robert Kocharyan.
Mr Unanyan, a freelance journalist with political ambitions, surrendered on condition that a recorded message was broadcast to the public. Mr Unanyan, whose brother and uncle also took part in the raid, said he regretted killing the seven other victims, but that Mr Sarkisyan was slain for presiding over Armenia's ruin and impoverishment.
The Defence Ministry called for heads to roll because the gunmen got into the parliament building unimpeded - Mr Unanyan's job meant he had easy access to the chamber. "The crime has demonstrated the incompetence of the security services," defence chiefs said.
The focus of alarm yesterday was the impact of the killings on the prospects for a final settlement with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave, which is in Azerbaijan, has been in the hands of Armenian nationalists since a six-year war ended with a truce in 1994. President Kocharyan and the assassinated prime minister had both built their careers on their nationalist credentials, but had been edging towards a settlement with Azerbaijan.
The army's warning of an "external threat" reflected fears that Azerbaijan may seek to take advantage of the turmoil to reclaim the enclave.
Mr Ovanesyan said that emotions were running high in Yerevan, but that the situation was under control. "That could change if our neighbours think the situation is favourable for a quick and abrupt attempt to do something with the Armenians in Karabakh. Then there could be an explosion, not only of an emotional nature."
The Russian prime minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, sought to exploit the killings to justify Russia's war in Chechnya, north of Armenia, as part of a broader battle against "terrorism".
"This demonstrates that what we are doing is correct in solving the problem of fighting terrorism in Russia," Mr Putin declared.