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Azerbaijan shelling kills Karabakh soldier

Wednesday, 09 December 2015 6:55 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 09 December 2015 7:28 PM ]

The picture taken on November 14, 2014 shows Armenian and Karabakh armed forces holding joint military exercises at a training ground near the town of Tigranakert in Nagorno-Karabakh region. (AFP photo)

Azeri shelling has reportedly killed a soldier near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh border region.

According to a statement by the defense ministry in the region, which lies inside Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians, the death came after Azerbaijani tanks shelled the Armenian enclave on Wednesday.

The two ex-Soviet Caucasus countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan claim the territory. Ethnic Armenian forces took control of the enclave, which accounts for 16 percent of the Azerbaijan territory, in the early 1990s during a war which lasted from February 1988 to May 1994.

The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million displaced before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 1994. A permanent peace accord has, however, proven elusive.

The defense ministry in the disputed region said in a statement that “for the first time since the ceasefire, Azerbaijan used tanks on the Karabakh frontline,” adding that “some 1,500 shots were fired from tanks and grenade-launchers.”

Azerbaijan, however, gave a different account of the developments, saying Armenia had launched mortar shells at settlements in Azerbaijan.

The Azeri Defense Ministry warned that it would launch retaliatory strikes on "enemy" military positions in Nagorno-Karabakh, close to the frontier.

"The regime in Armenia bears responsibility for all of this," the Azeri ministry said.

Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the region by force if negotiations between the two sides fail to yield results. Armenia says it would not stand by if Nagorno-Karabakh were attacked.

Mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) warned last week that “the status quo has become unsustainable,” calling on the two countries to reduce tensions.

Separately, Armenia said it had detained a retired military officer on charges of spying for Azerbaijan.

The Armenian National Security Service said in a statement on Wednesday that “retired Major Garik Marutian, 38, who previously served as a reconnaissance chief at the Defense Ministry, cooperated with Azerbaijani special services which are active in Turkey.”

Marutian could be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail if found guilty, said the statement.

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