Armenia arrests 2 men suspected in shooting attack on presidential candidate

YEREVAN, Armenia – Armenia's National Security Agency says it has arrested two suspects in the shooting of a presidential candidate.

Paruir Airikian, one of eight candidates in the Feb. 18 election, was shot and wounded by an unidentified assailant near his home in the Armenian capital a week ago.

The agency says the suspects arrested Thursday confessed to participating in the attack. It said in a statement Friday that investigators are still looking into motives behind the shooting, but gave no further details.

The attack on Airikian has thrown the election campaign into disarray, raising a possibility that the vote could be postponed.

Airikian initially said he would seek a 15-day delay of the election, but then announced he would not contest the date of the vote.