Armenian armed forces, in accordance with international humanitarian law and norms, have allowed the Azerbaijani side to remove the body of one of their saboteurs, who was killed yesterday following an infiltration attempt on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border in the marz of Tavush according to Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the spokesperson of the Armenian Defense Ministry. The body of the Azerbaijani soldier had been left on the territory between Armenian and Azerbaijani military positions along the state border.
On January 11, an infiltration attempt by Azerbaijani armed forces in the northeastern marz of Tavush on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border had resulted in the death of the Azerbaijani soldier; an 80-year-old Armenian shepherd, Seryozha Sargsyan was also killed in that incident. The Armenian army’s rapid response unit was able to intercept the cross-border diversionary operation.
“Following the incident, tensions in Tavush remained high. The units of the Armenian army responded adequately to all the gunfire,” Hovhannisyan said and went on to say that the body of the killed Azerbaijani soldier has been removed.
Background
Since the beginning of 2015, tensions along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact have been high. In the early morning hours of January 3, an Azerbaijani attack took place against the southern and western positions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army. As a result of military actions by the Defense Army, the adversary was pushed back to its starting position. However, during that attack, two Armenian soldiers, Karen Grigoryan and Vardan Mkrtchyan were killed, while another, Volodya Harutyunyan was injured.
On January 5-6, the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army reported that more than 5000 shots were fired from Azerbaijani positions. According to that report, Azerbaijani military forces utilized different caliber weapons, including 60 and 82 mm mortars and RPG-7 grenades. In response to these ceasefire violations, the Armenian side undertook corresponding military operations, killing at least three Azerbaijani soldiers.
On January 7-8, the ceasefire regime along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact was violated around 400 times with an estimated 5500 rounds of gunfire by the Azerbaijanis.
Tensions along the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border in the northeastern marz of Tavush and in particular on the Noyemberyan-Ghazakh and Berd-Tovuz sections of the border were also high on January 6. CivilNet reporter Tatul Hakobyan reported from Tavush that the Armenian villages of Aygepar, Nerkin Karmiaghpyur and Dovegh had come under heavy Azerbaijani fire from their military positions located in the Azerbaijani villages of Alibeyli and Kemerli. No casualties or injuries were reported.