Baku Reports 50 Soldiers Dead in Border Clashes With Armenia

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Fifty Azerbaijani soldiers were killed during fresh clashes with Armenia on the inter-state border as a result of the "large-scale provocation" of Yerevan, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

According to Baku, the Armenian military fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani troops on the border late on Monday. Yerevan, in turn. said that the Azerbaijani military shelled the Armenian side, using artillery and drones, as a result of which several Armenian servicemen were killed. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also reported losses in its ranks. The clashes continued the next day.

"50 servicemen of the Armed Forces, including 42 servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army and 8 servicemen of the State Border Service became Shehids during the suppression of the large-scale provocation," the ministry said, adding that the death of soldiers "did not remain unavenged."

Earlier in the day, Armenian authorities said that at least 49 Armenians died, according to preliminary information.

Nagorno-Karabakh, the mountainous region largely populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 but its status was not recognized internationally. The independence of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic (or the Republic of Artsakh) was only supported by the breakaway states of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. Baku and Yerevan have fought several wars over the disputed region.

The long-standing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh flared up in September 2020, marking the most serious escalation of a protracted standoff in years. The hostilities ended with a Moscow-brokered trilateral declaration signed in November 2020. Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to completely cease fire and exchange prisoners. However, the situation in the region has remained tense, with occasional clashes happening between the two countries.