Final four police hostages released in Armenia standoff

Pro-opposition gunmen locked in a week-long hostage standoff with Armenian authorities on Saturday released the final four police officers held captive, officials said, but remained holed up and heavily armed.

A group of supporters of jailed opposition leader Zhirair Sefilyan stormed a police building in the capital Yerevan last Sunday, killing one officer, taking several more hostage and seizing a cache of weapons.

Senior military officer Vitaly Balasanyan, who was acting as an intermediary, said the hostage-takers first released two of the officers Saturday morning "without any conditions" before then freeing the final two high-ranking officials.

There are few details on the negotiations but Balasanyan said the hostage-takers had agreed to release the last two officers if they were allowed to talk to the press.

The group has demanded the resignation of the ex-Soviet nation's President Serzh Sarkisian and the release of Sefilyan.

"We have taken up arms with the aim of liberating our country. Our demands haven't changed," one of the hostage-takers, Varuzhan Avetisyan, told reporters.

He also warned the authorities that any attempt to storm the building would result in heavy casualties.

Sefilyan -- the leader of small opposition group named the New Armenia Public Salvation Front -- and six of his supporters were arrested in June after authorities said they were preparing to seize government buildings and telecoms facilities in Yerevan.

A fierce critic of the government, he was arrested in 2006 over calls for "a violent overthrow of the government" and jailed for 18 months. He was released in 2008.

The protracted standoff has sparked demonstrations that have seen anti-government protesters clash violently with police over the official handling of the crisis.

Pro-Russian Sarkisian, a former military officer, has been president of the tiny country of 2.9 million people since winning a vote in 2008 that saw bloody clashes between police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate in which 10 people died.