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Armenia violates 120 times ceasefire in Karabakh - Azerbaijan’s ministry

The highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Mountainous Karabakh) is a mostly Armenian-populated enclave inside the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan

BAKU, April 9. /TASS/. The Armenian Armed Forces over the past 24 hours violated 120 times the ceasefire regime at different parts of the front, using 60mm mortars, grenade launchers, high caliber automatic guns, press service of Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

The defense authority said from the Armenian positions the fire was aimed at positions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces along the state border between the countries and in Karabakh.

"In accordance with the operative situation, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan delivered 121 fire strikes on the enemy’s positions and trenches," the ministry’s press service reported.

Overnight to April 2, hostilities erupted on the line disengaging warring sides in Nagorno-Karabakh. Later, the parties to the conflict accused each other of the ceasefire violations. On Friday, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a ceasefire to search for bodies of servicemen.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Mountainous Karabakh) is a mostly Armenian-populated enclave inside the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. It was the first zone of inter-ethnic tensions and violence to appear on the map of the former USSR.

Even almost a quarter of a century after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Karabakh remains a so-called 'frozen conflict' on the post-Soviet space, as the region is the subject of a dispute between Azerbaijan and the local Armenian population that draws on strong support from fellow-countrymen in neighboring Armenia.

In 1988, hostilities broke out there between the forces reporting to the government in Baku and Armenian residents, which resulted in the region's de facto independence.

In 1994 a ceasefire was reached but the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia remain strained ever since then.

Russia, France and the U.S. co-chair the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which attempts to broker an end to hostilities and the conflict.