BAKU (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, ministry’s spokesman Vagif Dargahli said that the Armenian servicemen were shelling the northeastern and southeastern regions of the line of contact between the countries, amid the ongoing escalation of the situation in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"We have warned that if the shelling of settlements on the Karabakh line of contact continues, Defense Minister Zakir Gasanov gave an order to be ready to carry out a missile attack on Hankendi," Dargahli told RIA Novosti.
Dargahli made similar statements on Monday.
He also accused the Armenian Armed Forces of shelling Azeri positions on the front line in the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh republic 120 times in the past 24 hours.
“The shelling of Azeri positions and residential areas in Terter, Agdam, and Fuzuli was carried out with large caliber 60-, 82-, and 120-mm cannons and grenade launchers 120 times in 24 hours. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces are controlling the situation on the front line of the territories liberated on Saturday,” Dargahli said.
The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on April 2. Baku and Yerevan have accused each other of provoking hostilities. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 33 people were killed and more than 200 injured as a result of the violence escalation.
Later in the day, the Organization for Security and Co-operation’s Minsk Group on mediation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will meet in Vienna at the ambassadorial level to discuss the recent outbreak of violence in the disputed region.
