YEREVAN, April 27. /TASS/. Armenian Defense Ministry says Azerbaijani army shelled the north-eastern part of Armenia’s state border 18 times over the last 24 hours.
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"Overnight to April 27, Azerbaijani side shelled the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan 18 times. They opened fire from small and sniper weapons of different caliber, mostly in chaotic shellings of border positions" of the Armenian army, the defense ministry said. "Demonstrating restraint, Armenian Armed Forces’ units resorted to response steps only when necessary and currently control the situation on the border," the ministry added.
The situation on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh was also turbulent last night, and one Karabakh militiaman was killed in shelling by Azerbaijani forces, the Armenian defense ministry said. "As a result of ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan, a 20-year-old militiaman sustained lethal injuries," the ministry noted.
"Overnight to April 27, Azerbaijani army continued shelling the contact line," the ministry said. "The enemy fired over 550 shells from almost all types of their artillery weapons, including mortars, cannons and Grad multiple rocket launcher systems, at positions of Karabakh forces and peaceful settlements of Nagorno-Karabakh. The most intensive shelling was registered in the north-eastern part of the contact line, the town of Mardakert and settlement of Nerkin Oratah, as well as other villaged, came under fire," it added.
"With the aim of neutralizing the enemy’s offensive, units of Nagorno-Krabakh defense forces took reciprocal measures and inflicted considerable losses in personnel and military equipment on the Azerbaijani army by targeted shots," the defense ministry noted adding that the current situation on the contact line is calm.
On Saturday, April 2, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh rapidly deteriorated when the parties to the Karabakh conflict accused each other of violating truce along the front line. The claims came from defense authorities of Armenia and of Azerbaijan.
On April 5 Azerbaijan’s Chief of Staff Col. Gen. Nadjmeddin Sadykov and his Armenian counterpart Col. Gen. Yury Khachaturov in Moscow with Russia’s mediation. At the talks the sides reached an agreement on cessation of hostilities at the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces. On the same day, the defense ministries of the two countries announced that the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh would start at 12am local time.