Peninsula Online, Qatar
Feb 21 2015
Armenian troops kill Azerbaijani soldier: Baku
February 21, 2015 – 6:29:11 pm
Baku—Armenian troops on Saturday killed an Azerbaijani soldier in a
fresh border clash, Azerbaijan officials said, as tensions mounted
over a separatist region.
The soldier “was killed in action as the Armenian forces attempted to
attack Azerbaijani army positions,” the defence ministry in
Azerbaijan’s capital Baku said.
“Armenia’s military and political leadership bears responsibility for
the provocations along the frontline,” the ministry said. “From now
on, our retaliatory measures will be even tougher.”
Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a decades-long conflict over
Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.
Despite years of negotiations, the two sides have not signed a final
peace deal, with Karabakh internationally recognised as part of
Azerbaijan.
Clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces intensified again in
January following an unprecedented spiral of violence last year.
At least 12 people from both sides were reported killed and 18 wounded
this year in similar incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and
along the Karabakh frontline.
Ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of
Karabakh during a 1990s war that left some 30,000 dead.
Baku, whose military spending exceeds Armenia’s entire state budget,
has threatened to take back the region by force if negotiations fail
to yield results.
Armenia, which is heavily armed by Russia, says it could crush any offensive.
AFP