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Azerbaijan’s armed forces have retaliated the heavy attacks of the Armenian armed forces in the early hours of April 2.

The Defense Ministry reported in its official statement on April 2 that Azerbaijani troops destroyed manpower, military equipment and infrastructure of the Armenian army in the territories occupied by Armenia.

The Armenian armed forces' attacks increased tension on the contact line on April 2. All the border positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and guns. Moreover, a number of settlements near the frontline, densely populated by civilians were fired by the Armenian armed forces.

In order to prevent the expansion of enemy’s military operations, the Azerbaijani armed forces assessed the situation and decided to immediately retaliate, the ministry said.

“The manpower, military equipment and infrastructure units of Armenian armed forces were destroyed as a result of the offensive by the Azerbaijani troops after defining the coordinates of the enemy’s forefront and rear,” Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry reported.

The tensions are still kept on the frontline, according to the ministry.

"Artillery units together with other combat arms are carrying out retaliatory measures against the armed forces of Armenia on the contact lines located on the most tense sections of Agdere-Terter-Aghdam and Khojavend-Fuzuli. The media and the public will be informed about the situation in the frontline zone," the ministry concluded.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called the International community to strongly condemn the shelling of civilian facilities on Azerbaijani territories by Armenian army.

Spokesperson for the ministry, Hikmat Hajiyev, told Trend that shelling of civilian facilities by Armenian military is a flagrant violation of commitments undertaken by Armenia within international humanitarian law.

“All the responsibility for the situation completely falls on Armenia, which is an aggressor and occupier country. Actions of the Armenian armed forces to escalate tensions coincide with the anniversary of the occupation of Azerbaijan’s Kalbajar district on April 2, 1993,” he added.

He recalled that the special resolution 822 (1993) was adopted by the UN Security Council over the occupation of the Kalbajar district.

“Despite the fact that the resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), adopted by the UN Security Council, demand the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from all the occupied Azerbaijani territories, the Armenian side continues the occupation of the territories, as well as intentional aggravation of the situation and provocative actions against civilians,” Hajiyev stressed.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that the presence of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories is a major obstacle to the settlement of the conflict, as well as the cause of deterioration of the situation and incidents, he added.

“In order to resolve the conflict and restore lasting peace in the region, international community must in the first place strongly demand Armenia to withdraw its armed forces from all the occupied territories in line with the requirements of the four UN Security Council resolutions,” Hajiyev emphasized.

Immediately after the reports President Putin calls on the conflict sides to immediately cease fire.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin is deeply concerned about the reports of the renewed military actions along the contact line in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region," president's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reports.

Sergey Shoygu, Russian Defense Minister held emergency telephone talks with his counterparts, Azerbaijan’s Zakir Hasanov and Armenia’s Seyran Ohanyan on the need for urgent measures to stabilize the situation in the conflict zone.

Given the continuing aggravation of the contact line, co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will held a meeting in Vienna next week.

On March 28, Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces have prevented Armenian side’s attempt to violate the country’s state border. The Armenian side, with a view to requite for the heavy losses, increased the number of provocations on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, according to the ministry’s report.

Thus, the Armenian armed forces violated the state border of Azerbaijan on the territory of Gazakh region on March 27, and tried to enter the country's territory. However, the Azerbaijani troops acted appropriately to prevent the offensive attempt, and as a result, the invaders suffered losses and were forced to retreat.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict evolved in 1988 after Armenia territorial claims to neighboring Azerbaijan, whose 20 percent of lands it occupied in an unneighborly way.

The OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, proceeding talks based on the renewed Madrid principles. The statements promising a sincere contribution to the peaceful resolution of the conflict have become frequent, but declarative in essence. That, unfortunately, ruined confidence in success of the mediators representing the U.S., Russia and France.

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