Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of attacking one of its positions at a section of the border where violence erupted last week.
Defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanian said Tuesday that an Azerbaijani commando unit suffered heavy losses while being repelled by Armenian troops deployed in the Tavush region. She added some of the unit’s soldiers were “left trapped” as a result of the failed incursion. “The Armenian side suffered no casualties”, Stepanian said.
Azerbaijan has denied the claim: “There were no new attacks, let alone casualties, from our side. The Armenian report is yet another disinformation”, a defence ministry spokesman said.
At least 12 Azerbaijani soldiers and 4 Armenian servicemen have died in the clashes since July 12. Both countries were part of the Soviet Union and have been involved in a territorial conflict since gaining independence within the 1990s. The main issue is a disputed territory called Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians.
The current incident is the most serious spike in hostilities since 2016, the when the nations fought for 4 days in the region. The violence resulted in the deaths of over 90 troops on each side and over a dozen civilians.
