Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 17
Trend:
Azerbaijani armed forces soldier Rashad Jafarzade was killed Dec.16 as a result of a mortar shelling of Azerbaijani positions by the Armenian armed forces, said the message of the press service of Azerbaijani defense ministry Dec.17.
The ministry expresses its deepest condolences to the relatives of the deceased.
Also, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said that the information spread by the Armenian media that two Azerbaijani snipers were allegedly killed on the front line is not true.
Azerbaijani armed forces fully control the operational situation on the front line, preventing all the provocations of the enemy.
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 the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.