BAKU, March 10 (Reuters) - Armenian troops killed an Azeri soldier in Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday, Azerbaijan's defence ministry said, bringing to three the number of Azeris reported killed in the disputed region at the weekend.

Azeri television said Armenians killed two Azeri citizens in the same area on Saturday.

Sixteen soldiers from both sides died in clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh earlier in the week, according to Azeri reports, one of the worst breeches of a 1994 ceasefire there.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a 1992-94 war over the mountainous region which killed around 35,000 people. They remain technically at war and diplomatic ties have been cut.

The Armenian-backed administration in Nagorno-Karabakh said the area was quiet and that reports of any attack were misinformation from the Azeri side.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan last week ordered emergency rule in the capital Yerevan after street battles between protesters and police killed eight people. The protesters say he rigged a Feb. 19 election.

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of trying to take advantage of its unsettled domestic situation by attacking during the state of emergency.

Azerbaijan said Armenia had launched the attacks to deflect attention away from its domestic problems. (Reporting by Lada Yevgrashina and Hasmik Mrtchyan in Yerevan; Writing by James Kilner in Moscow; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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