Azerbaijani forces used Turkish-made TR-107 rocket launchers to attack positions in the northwestern border of Artsakh and Azerbaijan on Friday, killing four soldiers, reported the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Ministry, according to the razm.info news agency.
Norair Mikaeli Khachatryan (B. 1995), Robert Sureni Mkrtchyan (B. 1995), Harut Hakopyan (B. 1997) and Karen Gevorki Shahinyan (B. 1997) were identified as the four soldiers killed by Azerbaijani forces, reported razm.info.
The Artsakh defense ministry also identified 60 and 82 millimeter mortars, RPG7, HAN 17 and SPG-9 grenades as the types of weapons being used by the Azerbaijani forces.
This latest attack on Karabakh targets, taking place as Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers are scheduled to meet at the United Nations, was the latest in the attacks by Azerbaijani forces on border region of both Artsakh and Armenia, where on Thursday three women, among them two elderly, were killed and two were injured when rockets were launched in the Tavush region of Armenia.
Azerbaijani forces used artillery weapons and mortars of different caliber as they opened fire in the north-eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The shelling left three civilians killed in the Tavush province (Paytsar Arakelyan, 83, Shushan Asatryan, 94, and Sona Revazyan, 41).
“As a rule, the Azerbaijani side resorts to provocative actions on the eve [of] negotiations and meetings targeted at the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, intentionally escalating tension at the border. This comes to prove that the military-political leadership of the neighboring country ignores initiatives aimed at peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and periodically destabilize the situation at the line of contact,” the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
“The current situation is a result of insidious tactics of the Azerbaijani military-political leadership and contradicts the logic of negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and the principles of international humanitarian law,” the Ministry said.
The Armenian Ministry of Defense urged the Azerbaijani side to refrain from steps aimed at escalation and to take practical measures to stabilize the situation. It also urged residents of villages bordering Azerbaijan to avoid serving as a shield to the Armenian Armed Forces.
“The Armenian Armed Forces will resort to equivalent actions to stabilize the situation and restrain the Azerbaijani troops,” the Ministry said, adding that “the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan will bear full responsibility for the consequences.”
