March 5 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan accused neighbour Armenia on Wednesday of stoking unrest in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, following shooting there in which Azerbaijan said 16 soldiers had been killed.

Azerbaijan said 12 Armenian forces and four Azeri soldiers were killed in clashes in the disputed enclave, seized by pro-Armenian forces from Azerbaijan in a war in the 1990s.

Here are some facts about the region:

* The Karabakh has an area of 4,400 square km (1,760 square miles) and a mainly Armenian population of about 140,000. It has only two big towns -- the largely Armenian capital Stepanakert, and Shusha, the last Azeri population centre. The rest of the population live in rural villages or tiny mountain hamlets.

* The region's status remained in flux until 1923, when it was awarded to Azerbaijan as the Autonomous Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh -- "Mountainous Karabakh" in Russian -- and given a considerable degree of self-rule.

* Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence in late 1991. Ethnic antagonisms between the Armenians and Azeris had been growing as the two countries gained their independence following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

* The ensuing six year war drove out Azerbaijan's troops and claimed some 35,000 lives until 1994 when Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh signed a peace protocol in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Days later they also signed a ceasefire. About one million people, mostly Azeris, were driven from their homes. * In December 2006 Nagorno-Karabakh region approved a new pro-independence constitution by a huge majority. The referendum was seen as a signal of commitment to independence by the region.

* The region has been running its own affairs but has no international recognition. Under blockade from Azerbaijan, with which it is still technically at war, its only practical connection with the outside world is through the Lachin Corridor -- a strip of a land with a single major road linking it to Armenia.

Sources: Reuters/www.britannica.com (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;)

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