US calls on Azerbaijan to protect Armenians

At least 19,000 Armenians have left their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh

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Hungry and exhausted Armenian families jammed roads to flee enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, while the US called on Azerbaijan to protect civilians and let in aid.

The Armenians of Karabakh-part of Azerbaijan that had been beyond Baku's control since the dissolution of the Soviet Union-began fleeing this week after their forces were routed in a lightning operation by Azerbaijan's military.

At least 19,000 of the 120,000 ethnic Armenians who call Nagorno-Karabakh home have already crossed into Armenia, deputy prime minister Tigran Khachatryan was quoted by Russia's TASS news agency as saying, with hundreds of cars and buses crammed with belongings snaking down the mountain road out of Azerbaijan.

Some fled packed into the back of open-topped trucks, others on tractors. Grandmother-of-four Narine Shakaryan arrived in her son-in-law's old car with six people packed inside. The 77 km (48-mile) drive had taken 24 hours, she said.