2 Armenian soldiers killed in clashes with Azerbaijan

SANAA, Aug. 17 (YPA) – Armenia announced that two of its soldiers were killed in clashes with Azerbaijani forces on the border between the two countries, in the latest military confrontation taking place between the two neighbors, since the war they fought last year over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In a statement, the Armenian Defense Ministry said that Azerbaijani forces “in Nakhichevan, the Azerbaijani enclave in southwestern Armenia, opened fire at the Armenian forces, as a result of which an Armenian soldier was shot in the stomach and soon died while being taken to hospital.”

The statement added that Azerbaijan tried to make another provocation, on Sunday evening, when it shot and killed a second Armenian soldier, noting that “this is the second Armenian soldier to die during this day, and the Azerbaijani side in turn suffered losses.”

On the other hand, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense accused the Armenian side of initiating the shooting, denying that any of its soldiers were injured.

Last Thursday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that he would request the deployment of Russian forces along the border with Azerbaijan, to avoid further escalation after recent clashes.

In the wake of last fall’s war, Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, deployed about 2,000 peacekeepers in and around Karabakh to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire brokered by it.

Last month, both Azerbaijan and Armenia reported sporadic border shootings, developments that each time raised fears of renewed conflict.

The six-week war last fall killed about 6,500 people and ended in November with a Russian-brokered ceasefire, under which Armenia relinquished lands in the region it had controlled for decades.