3 Die in Azerbaijan; Gorbachev Opposes Ethnic Deportations

Three more people have been killed and more than 40 injured in ethnic violence in the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, reports from the republic’s capital of Baku said Tuesday.

The reports, broadcast by Radio Baku, said the mainly young demonstrators confronted troops, overturned cars and looted shops and private homes.

Earlier Tuesday, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev sent a stern warning to officials in Azerbaijan and its neighboring southern republic of Armenia denouncing the “mass removal and deportation of citizens for national reasons”--that is, because of their ethnic backgrounds.

A resolution signed by Gorbachev before his departure for New York and by Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov urged local Communist Party leaders to take immediate steps to end “inadmissible actions” by officials in both republics who forced people to leave their homes. It also called on them to help the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the violence.

The three latest deaths in Baku brought to 31 the reported toll in clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the last two weeks.

The latest deaths were alluded to during a news briefing Tuesday by Foreign Ministry spokesman Vadim Perfilyev, who said the three did not die as a result of clashes with security forces. He gave no further details.

The radio reports, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp., said the victims were two Armenians and an Azerbaijani.