Hostage situation as armed men seize police station in Armenia

YERVAN (News Desk) - A group of armed men on Sunday took over a police station in Armenia's capital Yerevan along with several hostages, media reports said.

According to details, the gunmen belonged to a political faction and their supporter claimed that an armed uprising was underway against the sitting government.

However, the country's security service said that rumours of uprising were completely false, further confirming that there was a hostage situation at a police station.

Officials said that talks were already underway with the armed group to resolve the hostage situation peacefully. The police chief of the station was also among the people taken hostage.

Meanwhile, Armenian news agency reported that the gunmen were demanding the release of their leader Jirair Sefilian, who belongs to an opposition group and was detained in June this year.

"The hostage takers are also demanding resignation of President Sargsyan while some of the hostages and gunmen have also injured," the reports added.

It is also worth mentioning here that Jirair Sefilian is a critic of President Serzh Sargsyan and he has been protesting the way the government is handling a long-running conflict between pro-Armenian separatists and the breakaway Azeri region of Nagorno-Karabakh.