Baku/Istanbul - Two armed men shot at least eight people dead Thursday in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, local media reported.

The men opened fire with automatic weapons at the city's Oil Academy. Ten people were wounded in the attack.

One of the gun men then apparently committed suicide, the broadcaster CNN-Turk reported. There were conflicting reports about the fate of the other gunman, with one CNN-Turk reporter saying he continued exchanging fire with the police.

Washington - US President Barack Obama urged a peaceful solution to long-running disputes between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey in a telephone call Tuesday with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.

Obama, who visited Turkey this week before making a surprise stop in Iraq Tuesday afternoon, said the US was committed to "supporting progress" to resolve a long-running conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabah, a region claimed by both countries.

Moscow - The head of Europe's election-monitoring mission to Azerbaijan said Thursday there was a "lack of robust competition" on the ballot and President Ilham Aliyev's landslide re-election feel short of democratic norms.

With the only real opposition boycotting the vote, Aliyev sailed to an easy win on Wednesday, sealing near 90 per cent of the Caspian states 4.7 million votes.

"The election did not reflect all principals of a meaningful democratic election," Boris Frlec, the head of the OSCE's election observer mission, told journalist in Baku one day after the balloting.

Moscow/Baku, Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev won almost 90 per cent of the vote to secure another five-year term in oil-rich Caspian state in an election boycotted by the only real opposition, the country's central election committee said.

Aliyev, 46, son of the post-Soviet state's former strongarm ruler, grabbed 89.04 per cent of the ballots, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted the commission as saying late Wednesday after about 70 per cent of the vote had been counted.

Moscow/Baku, Azerbaijan - President Ilham Aliyev is all but set to maintain his rule over post-Soviet Azerbaijan in Wednesday's elections as Russia and US continue to compete for his favour in the oil-rich Caspian state.

With Aliyev's only real opposition boycotting the vote, it is a forgone conclusion that the son of Azerbaijan's former strongman leader will be handed a five-year extension to 35 years of dynastic rule over the Caspian state.

Ten per cent of the country's 4.8 million voters in the principally Muslim nation neighboring Iran had cast their ballot two hours after polls opened at 8:00 am (0300 GMT), OSCE election monitors said. Polls were due to close at 7:00 pm (1400 GMT).