Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 8
Trend:
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry has released footage displaying the elimination of a subversive group of Armenian armed forces.
“The footage shows how the units of the Azerbaijani armed forces open fire at the Armenian subversive group, how the group members flee in panic, carrying the dead and wounded into a car, as well as the destruction of a military vehicle,” said the press service of Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry.
“The Armenian armed forces were shooting at the positions of the Azerbaijani army from different directions along the line of contact using mortars, large-caliber machine guns Feb. 7 beginning from 16:55 (GMT+4),” the ministry said. “It is assumed that the Armenian armed forces tried to use the shelling as a distraction, while carrying out a diversion in the other direction in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“The Azerbaijani army detected Armenia’s actions in advance and retaliated. The Armenian side had to retreat, suffering losses.”
The Azerbaijani armed forces suffered no losses and the situation along the line of contact is fully controlled, according to the Defense Ministry.
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.