Azerbaijan Continues to Violate the Ceasefire
STEPANAKERT, Artsakh (A.W.)— The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s reports that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces destroyed an Artsakh Army headquarters in the direction of Martuni and prevented an infiltration attempt by Artsakh forces is false, according to the Artsakh Defense Ministry.
Artsakh Defense Army troops (Photo: artsakh.org.uk)
The Artsakh Defense Ministry released a statement saying that while Armenian forces are never the first to attack, they are prepared to respond Azerbaijani offensives at any time.
Azerbaijan continued to violate the ceasefire along the Artsakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact (LoC) on March 1-2.
Azerbaijani forces fired 68 shells using mortars and recoilless guns in the southeastern (Martakert) and eastern (Akna) direction of the LoC on March 2, reported the Artsakh Defense Ministry.
From the evening of March 1 until the morning of March 2, Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire more than 100 times, firing more than 1,200 shots at the southeastern, eastern, and northeastern directions of the LoC using mortars and grenade launchers.
Both times, Artsakh Defense Forces took the necessary retaliatory measures to control the situation at the frontlines.
Earlier on March 1, at around 4:50 p.m., Artsakh Defense Army serviceman Nver Babajanyan (b. 1980) was killed after being hit by shrapnel during Azerbaijani shelling on Armenian positions in the southeast Martuni direction of the Artsakh LoC. According to the press statement released by the Defense Ministry, an investigation has been launched into Babajanyan’s death.