YEREVAN, April 7 (RIA Novosti) - Officials from Europe's largest security organization conducted ceasefire monitoring Thursday along a stretch of Armenian-Azerbaijani border, an Armenian defense ministry spokesman said.

Seiran Shakhsuvaryan said officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had registered incidents of gunfire from Azerbaijan during the monitoring, conducted following talks between OSCE representatives and an Armenian regional governor, who said Azerbaijan had been shooting at the Idzhevan-Noemberyan highway.

Previous monitoring scheduled for March 28 was cancelled because of gunfire before it started. Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other of starting the firing. The two countries exchanged numerous allegations of ceasefire violations in February and March on the border near troubled Nagorny-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely ethnic Armenian population.

Previous OSCE inspections this year in the conflict zone registered no violations of the ceasefire regime.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988 and 1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded in 1994, leaving Nagorny Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.