14 Azerbaijani tanks annihilated by Karabakh Army
The situation remains tense along the entire Line of Contact between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, Karabakh Defense Ministry reports in a released statement.
According to it, more heated fights are still going on in the northeastern and southeastern directing of the frontline. Karabakh Defense Army units inflicted huge losses on the adversary’s manpower and military equipment. According to confirmed data, Azerbaijani side lost three tanks in this direction. Another two Azeri tanks and an armed vehicle were annihilated in the southeastern direction. In the course of the last two days Azerbaijani army has lost 14 tanks in total and 5 armed vehicles, while Karabakh Army lost a tank.
The statement then reads that intense clashes are underway in the southeastern direction of the frontline. The adversary tries to disguise its feebleness through shelling the civilians in Martakert town using MM-21 Grad and 152 mm artillery launchers.
In the past hour leading international news agencies picked up the line from Russian RIA Novosti that published the Azerbaijani MOD spokesperson’s statement alleging that Baku decided “to halt violence in response to international calls”.
“The Azerbaijani statement is a simple information trap, and does not mean a unilateral ceasefire. The NKR MOD will [shortly] give official statement”, - Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Defense, wrote on his Facebook page.
The Ministry of Defense of Nagorno Karabakh Republic has yet not confirmed ceasefire has been established.
David Babayan, the spokesperson for the President of Nagorno Karabakh, denounced the reports in a comment to tert.am, urging to consider this as “usual Azeri practice of reporting one thing and acting completely differently”, since in the past 24 hours Azerbaijan had already declared commitment to cease fire, but failed to do so.
The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions between April and November 1993, calling for “effective and permanent” ceasefire, as well as “immediate implementation of the reciprocal and urgent steps” in that direction.
Azerbaijan has intensified violations of the ceasefire regime within the past few years, despite the calls from the OSCE Minsk Group co-Chair countries and wider international community to adhere to peaceful resolution of the conflict.