Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Armenian armed forces intensified the ceasefire breaches on the contact line of troops between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

As a result of the shelling the Azerbaijani positions by Armenian armed forces on April 1, soldier of the Azerbaijani Army Akif Bakhshiyev shot dead, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported.

The defense ministry expressed its deepest condolences to the parents and relatives of the soldier.

The situation has remained tense on the contact line since mid-January with Armenian armed forces repeatedly violating the ceasefire.

In mid-March, the Armenian armed forces shot dead another soldier of the Azerbaijani army.

Last week, the Armenians wounded a civilian of the border village, subjecting the settlements located near the contact line to intensive firing.

Earlier, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that most ceasefire violations are observed in Fizuli, Agdam, Terter, Goranboy, Khojavend, and Jabrayil districts since January 2014. In all the cases, the enemy's shooting was answered by retaliatory fire.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994, but Armenia has continued 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 have produced no results so far.