YEREVEAN, October 1. /TASS/. The Army of Defense of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) downed an Azerbaijani Air Force helicopter at the contact line, which later crashed on the territory of neighboring Iran, Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said in her Facebook Thursday, citing a NKR statement.

"Today, on a southern direction of the conflict between Artsakh [NKR] and Azerbaijan, near the Varazatumb (Lele Tepe) height, the Artsakh Defense Army downed an Azerbaijani Air Force combat helicopter, which crashed on the Iranian territory. The Artsakh Ministry of Defense states that this incident was not intended. Unfortunately, such incidents are unavoidable, because the fighting takes place very close to the Iranian border," the Defense Army said in its statement.