STEPANAKERT—Another breach by Azerbaijani forces caused severe damage to an Artsakh Army vehicle and wounded an Artsakh soldier, the Defense Ministry of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic reported Friday.
The Artsakh defense ministry also released images of the damaged vehicle belonging to the army, which came under fire when Azerbaijani forces fired AGS-17 type grenade launchers overnight October 6-7 in the northern direction of the line of contact.
The defense ministry announced that intense ceasefire violations took place in the northern and northeastern directions of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border, also known as the line of contact. Azerbaijani forces fired DShk heavy machine guns (155 shots) and “Istiglal” anti-materiel rifles (109 shots) in the abovementioned locations. Azerbaijani forces also used AGS 17 grenade launchers in the northern direction.
“On October 7 at 08:30, soldier Hayk L. Hambardzumyan (born in 1996) sustained gunshot wounds by the Azerbaijani shooting in one of the military units located in the southern direction of the Defense Army,” the defense ministry announced.
Official Stepanakert also refuted reports by the Azerbaijani media that an Azerbaijani soldier was killed when Artsakh forces allegedly opened fire.
“Defense Army front lie units never attack first and fully respect the ceasefire regime. Moreover, it should be noted that Azerbaijan has increasingly intensified the ceasefire regime violation cases in the recent period in different sections of the conflict zone, using not only small-caliber gunfire weapons, but also machine guns and long-range sniper rifles. The freshest evidence of this is over 50 targeted shootings from ‘Black Arrow’ and ‘Istiglar’ large-caliber sniper rifles. Considering this, we would advise the Azerbaijani side instead of warning to remember its international commitment to respect the ceasefire regime. At the same time the NKR Defense Ministry warns that targeting Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan will never remain un answered,” said the Artsakh defense ministry.
The last sentence is the mist important one.
While Azerbaijan violates ceasefire, the West stays silent specially US, if one day Armenia takes the initiative to attack back, shamelessly the US will condemn Armenia. I suggest Mr. Kerry to talk now or stay silent forever.