President Heidar Aliyev of Azerbaijan imposed a curfew Friday on the city of Baku from midnight to 5 A.M., 48 hours after he claimed to have put down an attempted coup, Itar-Tass reported.


Aliyev also appointed Faud Guliyev as acting prime minister Friday, Reuters reported. Guliyev replaced Suret Huseinov, whom Aliyev sacked Thursday, accusing him of involvement in the coup attempt in which three Azeri soldiers and seven opposition fighters were killed in Gyandzha, Azerbaijan's second city.


The Azeri parliament voted Thursday night 31 votes to 1 to recommend Huseinov's removal, The Associated Press reported.


Aliyev said Wednesday that Huseinov's relatives led the rebellion in Gyandzha, his power base, when rebels temporarily overthrew local authorities Tuesday night. Huseinov denied the accusations in parliament Thursday night, saying he had fulfilled all of Aliyev's orders, and could not be held responsible for his relatives' actions, AP reported.


Later he released a statement, reiterating his innocence and blaming Aliyev's aides, AP reported. "I was dragged into a dirty game," he said. "All these events have been masterminded by people in the president's inner circle."


Diplomatic sources in Baku discounted the conspiracy theories. "The feeling we have is that it was a genuine attempt to challenge Aliyev," one diplomat said, adding that Russian interference was less far-fetched.


"One cannot rule out Russian involvement since the oil contract was signed," the diplomat said, referring to the $7 billion oil deal signed two weeks ago with a Western consortium to exploit huge reserves in the Caspian Sea.


"Elements within Russia want to delay parliament's ratification of the oil deal as long as possible," the source said. Pointing to "the amazing string of coincidences" that had occurred in the last week in Azerbaijan, he said "the main party to gain would be Russia."


Alexander Iskandriyan, co-director at the Caucasian Research Center in Moscow, said the timing of the power struggle linked it to the oil deal. Aliyev's declaration of a pipeline deal with Turkey a week ago would also be unwelcome in Moscow. "There is no doubt at all that Russian influence in Azerbaijan is very important," he said Friday.