Azerbaijani Forces Kill Karabakh Soldier
Azerbaijani troops killed an ethnic Armenian soldier from the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region's forces in a fresh clash along the volatile frontline, the Armenian-backed region's defense ministry said on Wednesday.
The soldier, "20-year-old Artur Oganjanian, died after he was mortally wounded on Tuesday by Azerbaijani troops at the southern sector of the line of separation of Azerbaijani and Karabakh forces," the ministry said in a statement.
Recent months have seen an increase in violence along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border and at the Karabakh frontline, with both sides regularly accusing each other of tit-for-tat raids and at least nine soldiers killed.
Last year, around 20 soldiers from both sides were reportedly killed in border shootouts.
Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a 1990s war that killed 30,000 people. Despite years of negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have yet to sign a peace deal.
Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force if negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed to retaliate against any military action.
Source: Agence France Presse
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