Armenian Troops Move Positions Closer to Azeri Village in Qazakh, Residents Say
Baku Today 18/06/2004 13:37

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 18 2004

Residents of Mazam village in Azerbaijan’s western Qazakh District,
which borders Armenia, have started resettling their minor children
to inner villages as Armenian troops are moving their positions closer
to the village, ANS reported on Thursday.

Residents said Armenians have moved their positions towards a road
connecting the village with the rest of the district. They also
said the road has come under intensive attacks by Armenians over the
last week.

Meanwhile, Chief of Staff of the Armenian army, Michael Arutunian,
said on Wednesday that an Armenian officer was killed in a clash
with Azerbaijani forces along the country’s northeastern frontier,
France Press Agency reported.

Arutunian reportedly blamed Azeri forces on clashes that occurred in
the border, saying that the latter attempted to take control over
a position on a hilltop east of Idzhevan, an important road and
rail center.

The Armenian Chief of Staff also claimed that several troops on the
Azeri side were killed in the clashes.

The press office of Azerbaijan’s ministry of defense dismissed the
claims about an attack by the Azeri army. Ilqar Verdiyev, a press
officer, told the Baku Today that Azerbaijan’s army positions in
the Qazakh District have been attacked by Armenians on a regular
base lately.

Verdiyev said the Azeri troops have answered the enemy fittingly.
“There have been no casualties on our side,” he added.