Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 4
Trend:
Azerbaijan's army may carry out strikes on the city of Khankendi and other occupied settlements, read a message posted on the website of Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry Apr. 4.
"Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry has tasked all the types of the armed forces, including the rocket and artillery troops, to be ready to carry out crushing strikes from all heavy combat weapons on the Khankendi city and other occupied settlements, if the Armenians don't stop shelling Azerbaijani settlements in a short time," said the message.
Armenian armed forces are targeting densely populated residential areas and civilians in order to retaliate for heavy causalities along the frontline, added the ministry.
"Acting inhumanly, the Armenian side provokes Azerbaijan to take counter measures despite the continuous warnings made by Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry to the Armenian side," said the message. "Azerbaijan once again calls on Armenia to respect the international law and norms and stop the use of lethal force against civilians."
On the night of Apr. 2, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from Armenians, who were using large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and guns. Azerbaijani settlements near the frontline densely populated by civilians were shelled as well. There are casualties among the civilians as a result of the shelling.
Six Armenian tanks, 15 gun mounts and reinforced engineering structures were destroyed and more than 100 servicemen of the Armenian armed forces were wounded and killed during the shootouts.
Twelve servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces heroically died, one Mi-24 helicopter was shot down and one tank was damaged on a mine.
Three more soldiers of Azerbaijan were killed during the past day and night as a result of the ceasefire violation.
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 US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.