Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that subunits of the Armenian Armed Forces shattered ceasefire with Azerbaijan in Shikhlar and Javahirli villages of Aghdam region, Gulustan and Tap Garagoyunlu villages of Goranboy region, Mehdili village of Jabrayil region, and Gizil Oba village of Tartar region on the night of March 9-10.

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 the U.S., 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.