YEREVAN (Sputnik) — According to the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry, Azerbaijan fired at positions of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in the morning of May 4.
"Early on May 4, tensions continued at the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani forces. The enemy carried on violating the ceasefire agreement using firearms and mortars of various calibers," the ministry said in a statement.
Front units of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army are in control of the situation and continue to carry out their combat duty, the ministry added.
Armenia, which backs the ethnically Armenian NKR and on Tuesday announced its intention to debate the recognition of the republic, has also reported clashes on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border.
"Early on May 4, Azerbaijan continued to violate the ceasefire on the northeastern stretch of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The enemy used firearms and sniper rifles of various calibers to fire indiscriminately at Armenian border posts," the Armenian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
Azerbaijan's forces retaliated 121 times to the ceasefire breaches, the ministry said.
The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on April 2. Baku and Yerevan have accused each other of provoking hostilities that led to multiple deaths on each side.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The warring sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities in 1994.
