BAKU, October 25. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s forces have been advancing in a number of directions during the ongoing battles in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the Defense Ministry reported on Sunday.
"On October 24 and on October 25 night fighting continued with various intensity in the Agderinsky, Hodzhavendsky, Fisuli, Gadrutsky, Gubadlinsky and Lachinsky directions of the frontline. The enemy shelled the Azerbaijan army’s positions from small arms, mortars and machine guns. <...> The Azerbaijani forces, which dealt a serious blow to the enemy in the Hodzhavendsky, Gubadlinsky and Lachinsky districts, advanced to the new positions in various directions," the ministry said.
According to the Defense Ministry, a significant number of Armenian forces’ military hardware was destroyed, including two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, four D-30 howitzers and seven vehicles.
"Currently, combat actions are ongoing along the entire frontline. Azerbaijan’s forces are controlling the operational situation," the ministry said.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Fighting continues in the region despite two declared ceasefire agreements. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.