ARMENIA SAYS SOLDIER KILLED IN BORDER CLASH WITH AZERBAIJAN
Agence France Presse — English
June 20, 2014 Friday 12:05 PM GMT
YEREVAN, June 20 2014
Azerbaijani forces killed an Armenian soldier in a fresh border
shoot-out between the arch-foes locked in a smouldering conflict over
the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, the defence ministry in Yerevan
said Friday.
“Private Grisha Khachatrian, 20, died Thursday of mortal wounds”
when Azerbaijani troops opened fire on the south-western sector of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the ministry said in a statement.
The two countries are mired in a festering decades-long conflict over
the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region with soldiers along the heavily
fortified frontier regularly exchanging sniper fire.
There was an uptick in violence towards the start of the year along
the front line as the two foes accused each other of staging a series
of tit-for-tat raids.
At least 16 soldiers from both sides have been killed so far this year.
Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in
a 1990s war that killed 30,000 people. Despite years of negotiations
since a 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have yet to sign a peace deal.
Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force
if negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed to
retaliate against any military action.