Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of breaching truce, firing on border posts

Azerbaijan on Friday accused Armenia of violating a truce and targeting its military positions along the border, marking the end of a lull in violent clashes that claimed dozens of lives last week.

Armenian forces fired on Azerbaijani positions “in the directions of Kokhanebi settlement of the Tovuz region, Keshdak and Barmagbina settlements of the Kalbajar region, and Tazakend settlement of the Dashkasan region,” the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Armenian units were “in the directions of the Chinarli settlement of the Tovuzgala region and Yukhari Shorzha, Gunashli, and Zarkand settlements of the Basarkechar region,” the statement said.

They used various caliber weapons in their attacks, which started late on Thursday night and continued until Friday morning, it added.

The ministry did not share details on casualties or damage, but said the Azerbaijani military took “adequate retaliatory measures.”

More than 200 Armenian soldiers and 80 Azerbaijani personnel were killed in last week’s flare-up, which ended with a truce widely welcomed by the international community.

The clashes were the latest among the two former Soviet republics, who have had tense relations since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

They follow the 2020 conflict in which Azerbaijan liberated several cities and over 300 settlements and villages from Armenian occupation. That bout of fighting ended with a deal brokered by Russia.

Source: AA

Leave a Comment