Defense Ministry: Armenian side shells Azerbaijani settlements

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenian militaries were shelling the Azerbaijani army’s positions and settlements in the country’s Tartar, Aghdam and Fuzuli regions by using heavy weapons, including 82-mm and 120-mm mortars, starting from May 30 night until May 31 morning.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that there are no casualties among the Azerbaijani armed forces’ personnel and civilians living in those settlements.

As a result of adequate response measures, the Azerbaijani armed forces suppressed the enemy shelling, according to the ministy.

The ministry further stressed that if such provocations by the Armenian armed forces continue, “the Azerbaijani armed forces will open fire at Armenian settlements by using artillery systems capable of hitting targets at longer distances.|”

The Armenian side constantly breaches the ceasefire and resorts to attempts of sabotage against Azerbaijan. Over the past 24 hours, Armenia’s armed forces, using large-caliber machine guns and mortars, have 120 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.