An Azerbaijani soldier died and three Armenian troops were wounded on Friday in the latest military incident between the countries since their war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region last year.
The six-week war last autumn claimed about 6,500 lives and ended in November with a Russian-brokered ceasefire under which Armenia ceded territories it had controlled for decades. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have reported occasional shootouts in recent months along their shared border, sparking fears of a flare up in the territorial dispute. “Armenian armed forces opened fire at Azerbaijani army positions at the Kelbajar sector of the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border,” Baku’s defence ministry said in a statement. “An Azerbaijani army serviceman was killed by the enemy’s sniper,” it said, adding that the shooting began around 4:00 pm (1200 GMT).
Armenia blamed the Azerbaijani military for initiating the incident, with its defence ministry saying “three Armenian servicemen were wounded in the intense shootout”. The clashes were continuing late in the evening, both countries reported. “Shootout is under way at the Kelbajar sector of the state border. Azerbaijani army units are returning fire,” Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said.
Armenia’s rights ombudsman Arman Tatoyan said on Facebook that the continued shootout “poses a real danger for life, health and other vital rights of the civilian population and destroys peace and security of civilians.” Tensions between Baku and Yerevan have been running high since May, when Armenia accused Azerbaijan’s military of crossing its southern frontier to “lay siege” to a lake shared by the two countries. “This is our ancestors’ land, we are on our land,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told the AzTV network on Thursday, referring to the territory which Armenia considers part of its Syunik district.
In May, Aliyev said Baku was ready for peace talks with Armenia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced at the time that the two ex-Soviet nations were holding discussions on the delimitation and demarcation of their shared borders. Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed, and the ensuing conflict has claimed around 30,000 lives.