Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan is fully complying with the agreement on the cessation of hostilities along the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on April 8.

However, the ministry reported, Armenia’s military leadership continues to report about losses on the frontline despite the reached agreement on ceasefire.

“The monitoring, held on Armenian media and social networks, revealed that the enemy has mentioned the previous number of the dead soldiers as newly killed,” the ministry said, noting that the enemy tries to blame Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire by spreading false information about the dead soldiers.

“The opposing party may disseminate such information for two reasons. Either it (Armenia) is forced to report about the dead soldiers, as it can no longer hide this data, or its soldiers are dying because of the arbitrariness, lack of discipline and psychological stresses encountered as a result of tensions, clashes that continued for several days on the frontline,” the ministry said.

The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijan’s positions.

To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.

The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3.

The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5, as a meeting between the Chief of General Staff of Azerbaijan Armed Forces Colonel General Najmaddin Sadikov and the Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces Colonel General Yuri Khachaturyan took place by the mediation of the Russian side.

Later, an agreement was reached on restoration of ceasefire regime since 15:00 (GMT+4) on April 8 on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

The parties to the conflict plan to take bodies of the military personnel left on the battlefield from 15.00 to 20.00, through the mediation of OSCE representatives and International Committee of the Red Cross.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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