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Armenian troops fire Azerbaijani settlements

9 December 2015 17:24 (UTC+04:00)
Armenian troops fire Azerbaijani settlements

By Aynur Karimova

Armenian Armed Forces have opened fire on the Azerbaijani settlements, located near the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan reported on December 9.

This time the Armenians used mortars and large-caliber weapons to shell the Azerbaijani settlements.

"The responsibility for the incident lies upon Armenia’s criminal regime," the ministry said.

The Defense Ministry warned that Azerbaijan’s army will take retaliatory measures to destroy positions and military objects of the enemy, located in the settlements near the contact line in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

On December 9, Armenian Armed Forces broke the ceasefire with Azerbaijan 91 times in various parts of the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies in the last 24 hours using mortars and machine guns. Azerbaijani Armed forces carried out 95 strikes on enemy positions.

On the same day, Azerbaijani military shot down an Armenian drone.

“One drone of DJI Inspire 1 (Quadcopter) type of Armenian armed forces, that attempted to fly over the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the area of Terter district, was detected and destroyed on December 9 at about 9 a.m. (GMT + 4 hours) thanks to the vigilance of the army,” the ministry said.

The previous Armenian drone was destroyed two days earlier.

Civilians are the frequent target of the Armenian Armed Forces, who wound residents of the frontal villages in their homes or on their farms. Frequent ceasefire violations committed by the Armenian military paralyze life in the frontline areas, while the constant shelling has impaired daily routine of local people.

The residents of these villages earn their livelihoods from farming, but ceasefire violations make it impossible for them to work on their lands, take their cattle for grazing, and use water from rivers originating in Armenia.

Earlier, the Armenian Armed Forces fired at civilians taking part in a wedding ceremony in Terter region’s Gapanli village from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories on September 1, 2015. As a result, three civilians, including a small child were injured.

The Armenian military’s shelling of Azerbaijani civilians is a gross violation of the international humanitarian law and a military crime by Armenia.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Since the war, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Armenia continues the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of armed forces.

Peace talks brokered by mediators from Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far.

Regular violations of the ceasefire, armed attacks on civilians, show that Armenia is not interested in resolving the conflict through peaceful means. Armenia’s true purpose is to continue the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and maintain the status quo by all means.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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