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Azerbaijan's Deserted Serviceman Killed by Armenian Armed Forces (UPDATE)

Politics Materials 17 November 2008 12:24 (UTC +04:00)
Azerbaijan's Deserted Serviceman Killed by Armenian Armed Forces (UPDATE)

Azerbaijan, Barda, 17 November / Trend corr. Sh.Jaliloglu/ A serviceman who deserted from the Azerbaijani Army Shamilov tried to pass to the Armenian side but was killed by the soldiers of the Armenian Armed Forces, a law-enforcement source said to Trend on 17 November.

According to another source, a soldier, who escaped from N military unit in the Fuzuli region (360km south-west of Baku), either passed to the Armenian side or was captured.

Orkhan Shamilov, who was conscripted to military service from the Terter Region Conscription Office in April 2008, escaped on 15 November with the gun entrusted to him.

Terter Police Office said to Trend that they had suspended the search operations which were held on 15-16 November.

Azerbaijani Defence Ministry did not provide extra reports on the event.

On 8 October, serviceman Rafig Hasanov, 19, was captured by Armenians at the troops contact line under unknown circumstances.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and Nagorno-Karabakh's seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The countries keep on peace negotiating.

OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by USA, Russia, France is engaged in peace settling of the conflict.

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