Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan’s defense ministry has dismissed as "another Armenian lie" the reports claiming that two Armenian soldiers were killed and another wounded on the contact line of the two countries’ troops last Friday.

The two South Caucasus republics fought a lengthy war over the mountainous region of Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s that had flared up due to Armenia’s territorial claims. OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far and sporadic clashes on the frontline continue.

"There is long-standing hostility between the Armenians of Karabakh and those of Armenia," the Azerbaijani ministry’s spokesman, Eldar Sabiroglu, commented. "This enmity has affected the military as well. Time after time, deadly skirmishes occurred over arguments between Armenians assigned to the military units in Nagorno Karabakh and local soldiers. Incoming information suggests that the April 29 incident took place on these very grounds. A soldier who is a citizen of Armenia opened fire from a submachine gun, killing two servicemen who hail from the Martuni region of Nagorno Karabakh."