Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6
Trend:
Starting from 12:00 April 5, immediately after the parties reached an agreement on ceasing the military operations, Armenia has started firing Azerbaijani Armed Forces' positions along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in Ordubad, Shahbuz and Babek regions of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan, press-service of Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan said April 6.
"From 12:10 April 5 till 12:56 April 6, our positions in these regions have been supressed with large calibre weapons and grenade launchers from Armenian Armed Forces' position in Megri, Sysyan and Jermuk regions of Armenia", the ministry said.
The ministry also said that units of Independent Combined Arms army supressed the enemy positions in this direction with its accurate response fires.
"As a result of taken response measures by Azerbaijan's units in Ordubad direction, enemy's firing position and engineering installation have been destroyed. Operational environment is under the full control of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan", the ministry added.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers.
The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.