Azerbaijan introduced Tuesday that “anti-terrorist operations” had begun in opposition to Armenia, almost three years after each international locations went to battle over the disputed mountainous space in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The announcement got here after months of mounting tensions between the Caucasus foes and hours after Baku mentioned six Azerbaijanis have been killed by mine explosions in Karabakh, blaming Armenian separatists.
“Localised anti-terrorist measures have been launched within the area,” Baku´s defence ministry mentioned, including it was utilizing “excessive precision weapons on the entrance line and in depth as a part of the operations.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a decades-long battle over Karabakh, going to battle within the 1990s and in 2020, AFP reported.
The breakaway area populated primarily by Armenians is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan.
Baku has cited “systemic shelling” of Azerbaijani positions by Armenian separatists in Karabakh in addition to “the persevering with mining of our territories” and accused Yerevan of a troop build-up.
It mentioned it had “repeatedly warned” of what it known as violations of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that ended a 2020 battle between the neighbours, calling them “a critical supply of risk for peace and stability within the area.”
Baku mentioned it needed to “suppress large-scale provocations” in Karabakh. Its goals additionally included the “disarmament and withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from our territories” and “the security of the civilian inhabitants” returning to territories it reclaimed in 2020.
Hours earlier, Baku mentioned 4 policemen and two civilians have been killed in mine explosions staged by “Armenian separatist teams.”
Blasts have been heard Tuesday within the Armenian separatist stronghold of Stepanakert within the breakaway area, an AFP reporter mentioned.
“Mass shelling has began right here,” Ruen Vardanyan, a former state minister of Karabakh mentioned on Telegram.
Baku mentioned it had knowledgeable Russia and Turkey about navy actions it was finishing up in Karabakh.
In a six-week battle in 2020, Azerbaijan regained management of pockets of Karabakh with combating ending with a Russian-brokered peace deal.
