Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The deadly clashes took place between the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces on the contact line of two countries’ troops during the week.

Azerbaijani armed forces have prevented all sabotage attempts of Armenian troops and carried out strikes on enemy positions in the last 24 hours, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on December 20.

Two Armenian servicemen were killed and four more were injured as a result of the return fire.

The ministry said in general, 18 servicemen were killed and over 20 were injured from the Armenian side in a week.

Azerbaijani Army also lost one servicemen. Azerbaijani serviceman Ibrahim Nurmammadzade was killed in the battle with Armenian side.

The ministry expressed deep condolences to the family of the killed Azerbaijani serviceman, emphasizing that the Azerbaijani military fully controls the operational conditions and take relevant measures to prevent Armenian provocations.

The Ministry has repeatedly said the responsibility for the continuing tensions on the frontline lies entirely on the irresponsible and criminal leadership of Armenia.

“In order to hide large human losses incurred by the Armenian army, the opposite side spreads false information about our losses,” the ministry Told Trend. “We daily offer accurate information to public about the situation on the frontline and incurred losses.”

The ministry stressed that “as long as armed forces of the criminal regime are not withdrawn from the occupied territories, we will continue to deliver crushing blows to the enemy positions.”

The situation on the contact line between Azerbaijan and Armenia has remained tense as the Armenian Armed Forces shattered ceasefire a total of 88 times throughout the day, Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry said.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, more than 4,000 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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