Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 10
By Ilkin Izzet - Trend:
The Armenian armed forces fired on the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces, located at the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops near the village of Bala Jafarli in Gazakh region.
The Armenian side intensively shells the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces, but gets adequate repulse, a senior officer of a military unit of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend on Aug. 9.
"The whole area in the Gazakh direction of the contact line is controlled by the Azerbaijani armed forces," he added.
He stressed that both sides used large-caliber weapons during the combat actions from July 31-August 1. As a result of strong resistance, the Armenian side suffered heavy losses.
"But the enemy is hiding this fact," he said. "After a shelling, ambulances were observed at the positions of the Armenian side. This proves the existence of the wounded. But the Armenian side does not officially report this."
Armenian armed forces launched a diversion on the night of July 31-August 1, when reconnaissance and sabotage groups tried to cross the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops through the territories of Aghdam and Terter regions.
Armenia's reconnaissance and sabotage group attacked the positions of Azerbaijani armed forces in the direction of Azerbaijan's Aghdam and Agdere regions on the night of August 1-2. Azerbaijan managed to locate the group and the sabotage attempt was prevented.
During the recent days, Azerbaijani positions have been constantly under attack, and 13 servicemen have been killed, several more were wounded. Armenian side suffered more losses while trying to hide this fact from the public.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.