AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Pars Today
Monday

14 December 2020

4:24:24 AM
1095460

Azerbaijan says 4 soldiers killed, threatens to 'destroy' Armenia

Azerbaijan says four of its servicemen have been killed in an attack by Armenian troops, in the first report of casualties since a Russian-brokered ceasefire accord ended a 44-day war last month.

Ahlulbayt News Agency: Azerbaijan says four of its servicemen have been killed in an attack by Armenian troops, in the first report of casualties since a Russian-brokered ceasefire accord ended a 44-day war last month.

The Azeri government said the attack, which also left two servicemen wounded, had taken place in Hadrut which Azerbaijan took back from Armenian occupation recently.

The casualties are the first since the war ended on Nov. 10, with Azerbaijan retaking all its territories outside Karabakh and some parts inside the currently Armenian-populated region. 

Authorities in Armenia said six of their troops had sustained injuries in the attack, which the Armenian defense ministry claimed had been mounted by the Azerbaijani army.

Azerbaijani’s President Ilham Aliyev reacted to the claim by accusing Armenia of starting the new clashes in a bid to re-occupy Hadrut and threatened to counter Yerevan’s forces with an “iron fist.”

The Russian defense ministry, which has deployed peacekeepers to the region, confirmed the clashes. "One case of ceasefire violation was reported on 11 December in the Hadrut district,” it said.

A spokesman for the Russian peacekeeping forces confirmed “exchanges of fire with automatic weapons,” and told the Ria Novosti press agency that requests to respect the ceasefire had been sent to both warring sides.

Azerbaijan’s defense ministry announced later in the day that the ceasefire was being observed after “provocative actions” by Armenian forces.

Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but it has been occupied by ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Armenia since 1992 when they broke from Azerbaijan in a war that killed some 30,000 people.

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