Azernews.Az

Tensions have escalated between the Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces as the two countries’ troops clashed on the frontline, and officials exchanged strongly-worded statements following the shooting that claimed lives on both sides.
At around 1.45 a.m. on Monday, a group of Armenian troops launched an offensive, violating ceasefire, in another such incident in the past days. A 19-year-old Azerbaijani serviceman was killed in the shooting, which took place close to a village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli region, according to the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry.
"Azerbaijani armed forces, strengthening their positions, retaliated with rigor, prompting the enemy to sustain casualties and retreat," the ministry said.
The Baku-based ANS TV channel reported that another Azerbaijani soldier was wounded in the clash and is currently in serious condition.
The shooting follows a clash last Friday night in the northern part of Azerbaijan's occupied region of Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh in which five troops were reported killed. Yerevan claimed four Armenian soldiers had been killed and four others wounded in the fighting, while one Azerbaijani soldier was later found dead on the battlefield.
Armenia's Defense Ministry alleged in a statement that the deaths were caused by fighting with an Azerbaijani 20-people-strong "armed reconnaissance group", which had allegedly attempted to cross to the Armenian side of the contact line. The "reconnaissance group" reportedly had to pull back, leaving the dead body and ammunition on the battlefield.
Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian blamed Baku for what he called "a high-level provocation" intended to scuttle peace negotiations.
The fighting follows a meeting between the presidents of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan that took place in St. Petersburg last Thursday on the sidelines of a major economic forum hosted by the Russian city.
"The Azerbaijanis, who have become convinced that it is impossible to disrupt peace talks with belligerent statements, resorted to an outright provocation immediately after the presidential meeting," claimed Nalbandian, who went as far as accusing Baku of "doing everything it can to derail negotiations."
Elkhan Polukhov, the spokesman for the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry, responding to Nalbandian's statement said, "It was not within the authority of Mr. Nalbandian to comment on matters, the cause of which lies in the continuing occupation of Azerbaijani lands."
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has also termed the shooting that followed the leaders’ talks as "an open provocation". He said that Armenia would not back down from its goal – to achieve so-called "independence" of Nagorno Garabagh.
The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry said while commenting on the shooting that it was the Armenian side that launched the attack on the frontline. The ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroghlu said the clash had erupted at around midnight last Friday near a village of the Terter region and lasted a long time. He also said Yerevan reported fewer casualties than it had sustained.
Sabiroghlu said such shootings have been frequent of late, however, the Armenian side admitted to its defeat for the first time. "Usually, the Armenians try to conceal the fact of their casualties."
Sabiroghlu noted that Armenia has been violating ceasefire to backtrack from the ongoing peace talks and the updated Madrid principles, a proposed peace outline for Garabagh settlement, and the latest event should be considered nothing but another provocation on their part.
The European Union Special Representative for South Caucasus Peter Semneby has said in Yerevan that ceasefire violations on the Armenia-Azerbaijan frontline and instances of human casualties are unacceptable. "This incident shows that the situation may spiral out of control any time, which necessitates appeasing the sides and undertaking confidence-building measures."
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Though the separatist regime in Upper Garabagh declared so-called independence at the time of the Soviet collapse in 1991, this "independence", which blatantly tramples on international law, has not been recognized by the world community. One million Azerbaijanis have been displaced as a result of ethnic cleansing. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but the OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.*