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Armenia and Azerbaijan report on ceasefire violations in Karabakh

Both parties to the conflict accuse each other of violating truce

© Karo Sahakyan/PAN Photo via AP

BAKU, May 2. /TASS/. The Azerbaijani army shelled the north-eastern section of Armenia’s state border last night, the Armenian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

"The enemy mounted the fire attack with small arms and sniper’s weapons of various calibers mainly shelling indiscriminately the border positions" of the Armenian army, the report said. "Showing restraint, the advanced units of the Armenian armed forces resorted to retaliatory steps only at the worst extremity. They are confidently controlling the situation along the border," the Defense Ministry reported.

The view from Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Friday that the Armenian armed forces have "violated the ceasefire 112 times on various sections of the frontline over the past 24 hours using, in particular, 60-mm mortars."

According to its version, the Armenian side shelled the Azerbaijani army positions located in populated localities and on the hills along the border between the two counties and the areas adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh. "In accordance with the operational situation, the Azerbaijani armed forces carried out 114 fire attacks on enemy positions and trench lines," the ministry said.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The situation along the line of engagement of the conflicting parties in Nagorno-Karabakh deteriorated dramatically overnight to April 2. Following fierce armed clashes at the contact line, the parties to the conflict accused each other of violating truce.

On April 5, Russia mediated a meeting between Colonel-General Najmeddin Sadykov, the chief of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces General Staff, and Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov, the chief of the Armenian Armed Forces General Staff, that took place in Moscow. The sides agreed to cease the hostilities on the line disengaging the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh. The defense ministries of Azerbaijan and Armenia announced a ceasefire on the contact line as of 12:00 (11:00 Moscow Time) the same day. Ever since, the parties occasionally report brief exchanges of fire along the contact line.

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