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Armenian Security Service Arrests 47 People Over July Police Station Seizure

A man speaks during a rally not far from Erebuni police station seized by gunmen – supporters of fringe jailed opposition leader Zhirair Sefilyan – in Yerevan early on July 31, 2016.

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LUCKNOW, India – Police in northern India said Sunday that they have detained 15 suspects after a woman and her 14-year-old daughter were gang-raped off a busy highway, the latest incident of sexual violence to shock the country.

“With their consistent and coordinated actions, special units of Armenian law-enforcement bodies have forced members of the armed group to surrender to the authorities”, Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) said in a statement.

Twenty anti-government gunmen who were holed up in an Armenian police station for two weeks surrendered yesterday, security services said, ending a tense stand-off that left two police officers dead and triggered mass protests.

The gunmen, members of a radical opposition group, surrendered one day after police said they would storm the building.

Armenian folklore The Daredevils of Sassoun – who take their name from an epic of Armenian folklore – demanded the release from prison of opposition leader Jirair Sefilian, who has sharply criticised Mr Sargsyan and his government.

But, more than 5,000 demonstrators took to the streets after the expiry of the ultimatum on Saturday. The group seized the police station on 17 July, killing one policeman and taking several hostages.

More than 70 people were injured, including journalists, and dozens were arrested.

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The opposition group chose to yield after security forces entered the police compound with armoured vehicles, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The demonstrators blocked traffic for two hours but dispersed peacefully early Sunday. All hostages were released on July 23 (six days into the conflict, and the day after the president’s website finally made mention of the situation). They later seized four members of an ambulance crew, but the last two were allowed to leave on Saturday.

Armenian Protesters Clash With Riot Police Amid Hostage Crisis