Yerevan, Baku exchange accusations of ceasefire violation

Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Seiran Shakhsuvaryan said Azerbaijani troops continued shooting at Armenian positions in the Indevan, Baik and Noyemberyan regions through March 7-8.

Azerbaijan Defense Ministry spokesman Ilgar Verdiyev said Armenian troops were shooting at Azerbaijani positions 500 kilometers from the capital, Baku, and 250 kilometers from the zone of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The conflict between the two former Soviet republics over Nagorno Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region with a largely Armenian population, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988 and 1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded in 1994, leaving Nagorno Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.

Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced that its officials would monitor ceasefire observance on the stretch of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border near the village of Borsunlu in western Azerbaijan March 10.

/RIA Novosti/