Skirmishes Continue in Nagorno-Karabakh despite Ceasefire
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Skirmishes continued around Nagorno-Karabakh with Azerbaijan and Armenia blaming each other on Saturday for cease-fire violations.
The Armenian army is attacking Azerbaijani positions with mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said Saturday.
"The Armed Forces of Armenia are using 60 mm mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns in firing at Azerbaijani positions on the contact line in Karabakh," the ministry said in a statement reported by Sputnik News.
The self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's (NKR) Defense Ministry also blamed Azerbaijan for violating the ceasefire in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh early on Saturday by firing mortars.
"Following the truce declared earlier for gathering bodies of those killed, Azerbaijani forces at night again violated the ceasefire on the contact line, using 60-mm mortars," the ministry told RIA Novosti.
NKR forces have mainly refrained from retaliating against the attacks, the ministry added, accusing the Azerbaijani side of ignoring humanitarian norms by disrupting the ongoing search for bodies and the exchange of those killed in the fighting.
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.
Hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh have continued throughout the week despite a ceasefire resumption agreement reached on Tuesday.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The warring sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities in 1994.
