Azerbaijan Opposition Leaders Injured at Rally

An opposition rally in this capital turned bloody for the second straight day Sunday, when an unidentified gang attacked several opposition leaders.

Among the victims was Azerbaijan’s first president after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Abulfaz Elchibey, who was forced from office in June 1993.

Democratic Party leader Ilyas Ismailov and Liberal Party leader Lala Shovkhet-Gajiyeva and several of their party colleagues also were beaten by unidentified attackers. Armed police looked on but did not intervene.

The attacks came one day after stick-wielding police broke up a rally, injuring at least 18 people. Azerbaijan’s political opposition has been demonstrating for months against the country’s authoritarian president, Heydar A. Aliyev.

Aliyev won reelection last month in a contest that was boycotted by most leading opponents and denounced by international observers. Demonstrators have been demanding that the results be overturned.

Azerbaijan is a strategically important nation on the oil-rich Caspian Sea. It is at the center of an international debate that will determine who benefits most from the tapping of the area’s oil reserves.

About 15,000 people rallied Sunday and, unlike the previous day’s protest, this one was approved by local authorities and started peacefully. About 1,000 police were present.

But within minutes, a group of about 30 men attacked the opposition leaders.