Armenia accused Azerbaijani forces of opening fire on its troop positions in a border area late on Wednesday after a ceasefire agreement was reached in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Reuters reports.
Bombings in the Nagorno-Karabakh regionPhoto: AP / AP – The Associated Press / Profimedia
Azerbaijan immediately denied the incident.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said its troops were attacked with small arms near the town of Sotk on the border of the two countries, about 140 km from Karabakh – internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
Such exchanges of fire occur frequently in the border areas between the two former Soviet states in the South Caucasus, which have been trying to reach a long-term peace agreement.
At least 200 people have been killed in Karabakh following the Azeri military offensive and more than 400 injured, a human rights official in the separatist region said on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan said earlier Wednesday it had halted military action in Nagorno-Karabakh after its success on the battlefield forced Armenian separatist forces to agree to a ceasefire that will bring the area back fully under Baku’s control.
Thousands of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh gathered at the airport on Wednesday where Russian peacekeepers were stationed, after separatist forces in the enclave accepted a ceasefire agreement to surrender to Azerbaijan, Reuters reports.
The separatists who lead the self-styled “Artsah Republic” urged the population of 120,000 people not to rush to the airport in the capital Stepanakert.
Azerbaijan says it has ‘restored its sovereignty’
The Azeri president said that Azerbaijan had “restored its sovereignty” over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, after a lightning victory over Armenian separatists who “started” to lay down their arms, reports AFP.
“Most” of Armenian separatist forces and equipment have been “destroyed,” President Ilham Aliyev told a news conference, adding that he said Armenian authorities had shown “political competence” in not directly intervening in the conflict.
Defeated within 24 hours, the separatists announced in a press release the signing of “an agreement on the complete cessation of hostilities at 1:00 p.m. (09:00 GMT) with the mediation of the Russian peacekeeping command.”
On Wednesday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that negotiations on the future of the enclave would take place with the “mediation” of Russian forces deployed on the ground.
