By Emilio Luciano Cricchio
Skirmishes on the Line of Contact between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted on Sunday, July 12, when Azerbaijani forces attempted to take control of an Armenian border post in the northern region of Tavush.
In the ensuing fighting, three Azerbaijani servicemen were reportedly killed and five injured.
According to the spokeswoman of the Armenian Defence Ministry Shushan Stepanyan, the Armenian side did not suffer any casualties.
Late Sunday evening, a group of Azerbaijani servicemen in a military vehicle tried to enter Armenian territory and take over a border post.
Armenian forces returned fire and repelled the attack.
The area on the Armenian side was then bombarded with mortars and tank fire, and Armenian forces returned fire.
Stepanyan later stated that flare ups were still occurring “from time to time,” but “all the attempts from enemy positions have been neutralized.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry released a statement pinning the blame on the military and political leadership of Azerbaijan, which triggered the attack despite a call from international mediators to refrain from provocations.
A number of Armenian domain websites (.am) have also come down after a purported hacking attack.
Hetq.am, an investigative news site, was also attacked by hackers on Sunday, July 12, and remains unreachable as of Monday 6 AM local time. Hetq.am issued a statement of Facebook: “Dear readers, Hetq is not available at the moment, the website has been attacked.”
Some are pointing to a probable connection between the Azerbaijani attack and the hacking of Armenian websites.