Azeri, Armenian Troops Exchange Fire in Karabakh: Baku

The Azeri Armed Forces launched 120 strikes in response to alleged 117 ceasefire violations by Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area, according to Baku.

The Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh 117 times over the last 24 hours, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s press service reported Monday.

“Despite the earlier agreement on the ceasefire on the line of contact in Karabakh, the Armenian side violated the regime along the line 117 times over the last 24 hours,” the press service said.

In response, the Azeri Armed Forces launched 120 strikes, the country’s defense ministry said, according to Sputnik News.

On April 5, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a bilateral ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, which came into force at noon on the same day.

Azerbaijan does not recognize the ethnically Armenian self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and considers the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army to be a part of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

On April 2, Armenia and Azerbaijan declared a dramatic escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Baku and Yerevan traded blame for breaching the truce in the conflict and reported heavy fighting in the area.

Initially, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. The conflict escalated further in September 2015, with the sides blaming one another for violating the truce.

On Sunday, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti that the Azerbaijani forces had violated the ceasefire in the breakaway region, adding that the Nagorno-Karabakh forces “mostly refrained from response actions.”