Russia & FSU

Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of border shelling

Yerevan and Baku say their troops incurred injuries in the exchange of fireArmenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of border shelling

Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of border shelling

An Azerbaijani checkpoint in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. ©  AFP / Tofik Babayev

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces shelled each other’s positions in the border area early on Thursday, with both sides reporting injuries among their troops.

Armenia claimed that Azerbaijani military launched an artillery and mortar attack on its servicemen near the village of Sotk around 6:00am local time (2:00am GMT).

The shelling continued for several hours and wounded at least three Armenian troops, the country’s defense ministry said, adding that it would report on their condition later. It also accused Azerbaijan of targeting an ambulance as it was evacuating one of the injured soldiers.

“The units of the Armenian Armed Forces are taking appropriate preventive and defense measures” in response to the actions by the neighboring country, the ministry said. The situation in other areas along the border between the two former Soviet republics remains “stable,” it added.

Meanwhile, Baku insisted it was responding to an attack by Armenian forces late on Wednesday, in which an Azerbaijani soldier sustained a serious head injury as a result of “intense shelling.” Yerevan has rejected this claim.

Ceasefire deal in Nagorno-Karabakh violated – Russian MOD

Ceasefire deal in Nagorno-Karabakh violated – Russian MOD

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Mortar and artillery fire continued from the other side of the border on Thursday morning, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said, adding that it was performing “the needed countermeasures.”

Armenia has carried out “a deliberate provocation” and has “once again violated the ceasefire,” the ministry insisted.

Despite the flareup, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he still intends to travel to Brussels on Sunday for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. However, he made it clear that the possibility of a peace deal being signed during the meeting was “very low” as the draft treaty still needs work.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are engaged in a decades-old dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, a part of Azerbaijan with a predominantly ethnic Armenian population, which declared independence from Baku in the early 1990s. In 2020, the two neighbors fought a 44-day war for control of the area, which concluded in a truce brokered and monitored by Russia.

READ MORE: Armenian PM promises ‘peace’ with Azerbaijan

However, tensions have still remained high between Yerevan and Baku, resulting in sporadic border incidents. The most intense flare-up occurred last September, when clashes led to dozens of casualties on both sides.

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