Azerbaijani border guard killed in Armenian sniper attack

6 March 2020 10:39 (UTC+04:00)

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By Akbar Mammadov

An Azerbaijani border guard has been killed in Armenian cease-fire violation in the border Gazakh district, the State Border Service said in a statement on March 5.

Orkhan Pashzade (24) was shot by an Armenian sniper at 19:00 on March 5, nearby the Qushci Ayrim village of the Gazakh district bordering Armenia.

He was immediately placed in the diagnostic center of the Gazakh district, however died from the injury he had sustained.

The State Border Service said that “the Armenian military-political authority is responsible for the murder of the military serviceman of the State Border Service guarding internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan,” adding that necessary measures are taken regarding the accident.

The soldier was buried in his Cafarkhanli village in the Jalilabad district.

It should be noted that another Azerbaijani border guard Alamshah Valiyev was killed in another Armenian sabotage attack in Qazax district’s Ayrimli village on February 24. The Armenian diversion group had used grenade launchers and other large-calibre weapons from the Armenian units located near the Koti village in Noyabmeryan district to carry out the attack. The Azerbaijani border service publicized the weaponry and food stuff left out from the Armenian sabotage group in the border point where the attack had taken place.

One saboteur was killed and another was wounded during the operation to stop the diversion.

Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s breakaway region which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97