Armenia says officer killed by Azerbaijan sniper, Baku denies

"A contract serviceman, 49-year-old Major Ervand Pashikyan, was fatally injured at about 9:30 a.m. local time [5:30 a.m. GMT] yesterday by a shot fired by an Azerbaijani sniper at the combat position of the Noembryan military unit," Col. Seiran Shakhsuvaryan, a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, said referring to the military unit in northeastern Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan. The spokesman said the officer died on the spot from a chest wound.

The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan, conversely, said Armenia opened small arms fire at Azerbaijani positions Wednesday morning, which lasted for 20 minutes.

"The attack was suppressed with return fire, and the Azerbaijani side suffered no loss of life," Ilgar Verdiyev, a ministry spokesman, said, adding it was nonsensical of Armenia "to regularly violate the ceasefire and then blame it on Azerbaijan." RIA Novosti