Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that subunits of the Armenian Armed Forces shattered ceasefire with Azerbaijan in Agdam village of Tovuz region and Gushchuayrim village of Gazakh region, Yusifjanli, Shuraabad villages of Agdam region, Ashagi Abdurrahmanli, Horadiz villages of Fizuli region, Chayli village of Terter region, nameless hills of Goranboy and Dashkesen regions on August 15-16, AzerTag state news agency reported.

The Armenians were silenced with a retail fire, the ministry said.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.

Peace talks aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.