YEREVAN, October 3. /TASS/. On Saturday, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces engaged in a non-stop battle that lasted six or seven hours, Armenian Defense Ministry’s official spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan told reporters.
"Armenian servicemen engaged in a non-stop battle against the armed forces of Azerbaijan, which lasted for six or seven hours," Hovhannisyan said.
According to the spokesman, Azerbaijani forces sustained serious losses in the course of the clash. In the past day, Armenian troops struck 49 Azerbaijani armored vehicles, ten drones, three planes and one helicopter. Besides, three of its Smerch multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) were disabled.
The army of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has brought down a helicopter of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces, Armenian Defense Ministry Press Secretary Shushan Stepanyan said.
"About 15.50 [local time] the air defenses of Artsakh’s army of defense (the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh – TASS) shot down one helicopter of the adversary in the southern direction," she wrote on Facebook.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs – Russia, France and the United States.