Azerbaijani forces opened fire from their positions on the Khnkatsakh village in Armenia’s Syunik Province early Monday morning, the defense ministry confirmed in a statement.
A residence was damaged after Azerbaijani forces shot at the village at around 12:50 a.m. local time on Monday.
For the past week, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry has accused Armenia of a massive build up of forces along the border. Yerevan has denied those accusations.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry last week also stated that it does not issue statements on sporadic gunfire when positions in Armenia are not directly targeted.
However, residents of Khnkatsakh and another village in the Syunik province have reported sporadic gunfire toward their settlements, despite assurances from the defense officials.
One resident reported that he and others were forced to stop working on their fields.
No injuries or fatalities were reported in Monday’s incident.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry on Monday also refuted a statement issued by its Azerbaijani counterpart, which alleged that on March 30, from 10:30 p.m. to March 31, at 4:35 a.m., units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia opened fire on Azerbaijani positions in the eastern and southeastern sectors of the border.
“The Ministry recalls that the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia has proposed the establishment of a joint Armenia-Azerbaijan mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations and related reports. However, Azerbaijan has yet to respond to this initiative,” the Armenian statement said.
“The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia reaffirms that, in accordance with the position of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, it stands ready to investigate the facts supporting the statement issued by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, should they be provided to the Republic of Armenia,” the statement added.
Yerevan urged Baku to conduct an investigation into the shelling of a residential building in the Khnatsakh village and to provide public clarifications regarding the incident.
