Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Armenian armed forces' continuous firing at Azerbaijani villages located near the contact line of Armenian-Azerbaijani troops is aimed at leaving casualties and inflicting damages on these areas.

On June 22, the Armenian armed forces fired at the residents of the Gapanli village of Azerbaijan's Tartar region. This time the main targets of the Armenian troops were the civil farmers mowing grain in the cropped area, local media reported.

One of the bullets hit villager Namig Aliyev as he was working in the field. The other farmers who were watering the cropped area hardly escaped the Armenian bullets.

The villagers said they had to hide for a long time in the irrigation ditch and then crawl all on fours in order to move away from the field.

Aliyev, who was wounded in the leg, said he was also forced to crawl all on fours in the field to escape the shooting.

The wounded villager was taken to the central hospital of Tartar region for treatment. He is now in a stable condition.

The situation was tense through the night in Gapanli village. The villagers could take the cattle to the pasture only after nightfall.

The Armenian armed forces also fired at Alibayli village of Tovuz region and the border villages of the Gadabay region. The villagers could escape the shooting but their equipment got damaged.

The residents of the border villages say the Armenian armed forces fire on the villages by using large-caliber weapons from time to time.

The intensive shooting last week resulted in the wounding of three residents of the Alibayli village.

"The overall situation on the contact line between Azerbaijan and Armenia has remained tense as the Armenian armed forces violated the ceasefire for 64 times throughout the day," Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported.

Besides, the frequent ceasefire breaches in recent days have resulted in killing of several Azerbaijani soldiers by the Armenian forces.

Violating the ceasefire regime on June 15, the Armenian armed forces shot dead a junior sergeant of the Azerbaijani army. Besides, as a result of Armenian sabotage on the frontline, three soldiers of Azerbaijan's armed forces were killed in late May-early June.

The Armenian armed forces have intensified ceasefire violations on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops since the beginning of 2014. As a result of ceasefire breaches, several Azerbaijani soldiers were shot dead.

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 U.S. have produced no results so far.