Azernews.Az

BAKU – The drone aircraft shot down in Armenia-occupied Nagorno Karabakh region "has no bearing" on Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said, dismissing a statement by the "defense ministry" of the self-proclaimed republic run by ethnic Armenians in the region.

The Armenian reports quoted the "defense ministry" as saying that an Azerbaijani spy drone was downed in the Asgaran district on Monday, as a result of "special measures" taken by its antiaircraft units.

"Fragments of the destroyed aircraft are at the disposal of the Karabakh Defense Army's relevant services," the statement said. "A commission has been set up to examine details of the incident and an investigation is under way."

The separatist army also released several pictures of what it described as wreckage of the drone.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have previously not claimed to have shot down air targets since a May 1994 truce that halted their bitter war for Karabakh. The reported downing of an Azerbaijan unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could therefore add to growing fears of renewed large-scale fighting between the two sides.

The Karabakh "defense ministry" statement said the Azerbaijani Air Force had been engaged in "visible activity" along the Armenian-Azerbaijani "line of contact" lately.

"In recent days, the enemy's unmanned aircraft have carried out, with fairly large frequency, reconnaissance flights along the entire length of the border zone and, in some cases, violated airspace [over Karabakh]," it claimed.

Azerbaijan is known to have UAVs, most of them reportedly purchased from Israel. A joint venture set up by the Azerbaijani government and the Israel Aerospace Industries company began assembling Israeli-designed drones in Azerbaijan in March.

Azerbaijan unveiled its new drones at a military parade in June amid continuing tensions over Nagorno Karabakh, which Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan invaded in the 1990s war, along with seven surrounding regions.

Armenia officially announced in June that it was also manufacturing UAVs. Colonel Armen Mkrtchian, deputy commander of the Armenian Air Force, said they were capable of "carrying out objectives deep inside enemy territory."

The drones apparently designed by Armenian engineers are expected to be put on display during a military parade in Yerevan scheduled for September 21.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned it would use force to free its occupied regions if OSCE-brokered peace talks do not yield results.

Yerevan has threatened large-scale retaliation if Baku launches military action.