Armenia says four soldiers have been killed and a fifth wounded, in the first flare-up of violence on the border with Azerbaijan since the two neighbors began talks on a peace deal, reports the BBC.
Azerbaijan said it had destroyed an Armenian combat post in the south in retaliation for an earlier incident.
Last year, Azerbaijan recaptured its Nagorno-Karabakh region held for decades by ethnic Armenians.
Armenia has now accused its neighbor of trying to escalate tensions.
The attack in Armenia’s south-eastern Syunik province also comes days after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev won a fifth term in office, and local commentators have raised concerns that he may be considering further military action to seize Armenian territory.
The defense ministry in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, said its attack on the Armenian position near Nerkin Hand came after an Azerbaijani soldier had been wounded few kilometers away on Monday. It also highlighted a separate border incident hundreds of kilometers north, denied by Armenia.
Source: The BBC
