BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 20. Illegal militants in Karabakh seriously threaten the lives of hundreds of our people every day, said Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Special Assignments Elchin Amirbayov in an interview with French radio, Trend reports.
About 10,000 illegal fighters have been in the area for almost three years, he noted.
Stressing that Armenia provides all kinds of support to the Karabakh separatists, Amirbayov said that "Armenia also finances the separatists from its state budget".
"All this poses a serious threat to the security of our country. Therefore, it was decided to take local anti-terrorist measures and neutralize the legitimate military objectives of the other side," he added.
In order to ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Statement, to stop large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, to disarm and withdraw formations of the Armenian armed forces from the territories of Azerbaijan, to neutralize their military infrastructure, to ensure the safety of the peaceful population returning to the territories liberated from occupation, civil servants involved in construction and reconstruction works, and our military personnel, as well as to restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan, anti-terrorist measures have been launched in the region.
Civilians and infrastructure objects are not targets during localized anti-terrorist measures carried out in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region.
Only military targets belonging to illegal armed formations of the separatist regime are put out of action with the use of high-precision weapons available in the arsenal of the Azerbaijani Army.