Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry has dismissed as "misinformation" the Armenian reports about the death of seven Azerbaijani soldiers on the contact line of the two countries’ troops.

The ministry’s deputy spokesman, Teymur Abdullayev, told the Baku-based APA news agency that only one serviceman of Azerbaijan’s armed forces has been killed in past weeks.

"The incident occurred on November 26, and the media was immediately informed about it," Abdullayev said. "In order to justify their both combat and non-combat casualties in past days, the Armenians are finding no other way out than misinformation."

Armenian media have claimed, referring to the "defense ministry" of the separatist regime run by ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno Karabakh region, that in retaliation for the killing of two Armenian servicemen on November 19-20, seven Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed in past days.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war that ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks brokered by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.