TBILISI, September 23 (Reuters) – Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday accused each other of opening fire overnight, breaking a fragile ceasefire agreement that last week ended the worst fighting between the two countries since 2020.
In statements released by the two defense ministries on Friday morning, Baku and Yerevan each accused the other side of firing first in fresh clashes along their common border.
After two days of clashes that killed nearly 200 soldiers early last week, the bloodiest confrontation between the two former Soviet republics since 2020, the two sides have agreed to a ceasefire, brokered by Moscow , to end hostilities, although the situation at the border remained tense.
“On September 23, at 7:40 a.m. (3:40 GMT), units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces again violated the ceasefire regime by firing from different positions at Armenian combat positions located in the eastern area of the Armenian border -Azerbaijani,” the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a Facebook post on Friday.
“Enemy fire was repressed by ripostes,” added Armenia, which did not report any casualties.
Soon after, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry responded, claiming that Armenia opened fire first.
According to Baku, the Armenian armed forces opened fire on three different areas of the common border, “intermittently bombarding the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces with small arms of mixed caliber” over a nine-hour period from 23:45 (19:45). GMT) Thursday evening.
In a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also said it had taken “adequate retaliatory measures”. (Report Jake Cordell; French version Alizée Degorce, edited by Kate Entringer)
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