Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Armenian army has shot dead an Azerbaijani officer amid growing tension along the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijan troops .

The firing was made from a post near Chilaburt village of Terter region on January 23.

The 36-year-old officer, Captain Elnur Jafarov was killed while carrying out combat mission. Based on an order made by the Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov, Captain Elnur Jafarov was awarded with 3rd class Medal "For Distinguished Military Service" for personal courage in the battle-field.

Azerbaijan's defense ministry earlier said Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire regime in various directions 138 times per day. The shooting was countered by return fire.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Armenia continues the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the US and the OSCE Minsk Group are underway on the basis of a peaceful outline -called Madrid Principle -proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.