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Azerbaijan: Five dead in border skirmish with Armenia
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense accused Armenians of attempting to cross the contact line that separates Azerbaijani and Armenian-controlled territories in the Western Azerbaijani province of Terter on Tuesday afternoon. It also said Armenian troops attacked Azerbaijani military installations.
The Ministry of Defense said three Armenian soldiers were killed and several others injured during the violent clashes between the two armies. Two 19-year-old Azerbaijani soldiers were also killed during the bloody firefight.
The clash follows conflicting reports about an Azerbaijani soldier who Azerbaijan says was captured this week by Armenian forces. Armenian authorities say he deserted, while the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense says he might have lost his way back to a military facility and “mistakenly” went to the Armenian side.
Armenia, however, dismissed the Azerbaijani statement on Wednesday, saying that “actually, it was quite the contrary.” Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said an Azerbaijani sortie was prevented after Armenian border guards took retaliatory measures and “the subversives” escaped, suffering losses, Armenian news portal Panarmenian.net reported on Wednesday.
However, in a habit of spreading misinformation, Ohanyan said, Baku reported two Armenian soldiers killed and one injured. “The Armenian army always keeps alert and any attack is repelled,” he added. The last such incident took place in late June of this year, when four Armenian troops and one Azerbaijani soldier were killed in an exchange of fire on the line of battle, just a day after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan, met under Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group auspices to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
More than a decade of mediation led by Russia, France and the United States has failed to produce a final peace deal and Azerbaijan has said it may use force to try to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh. Tension has increased since Armenia and its traditional foe Turkey, which has close ties with Azerbaijan, reached a historic rapprochement last year.
The dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia remains a threat to stability in the South Caucasus, an important route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian to Europe.
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