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Azerbaijan captures Armenian; says he was part of a sabotage group

15 July 2018

Azerbaijan says it has captured an Armenian who was part of a sabotage group trying to infiltrate its border.

The person was named as 34 year old Karen Ghazaryan. A report widely disseminated by the Azerbaijani media says that  "On July 15 in the morning, the reconnaissance-sabotage group of Armenia attempted to cross the line of contact of the troops in the direction of the Gazakh region of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border", A picture of the captured soldier with some face wounds was also disseminated. The Azerbaijani report says that the attempted infiltration was suppressed and the group retreated having suffered losses. It says there were no casualties on the Azerbaijani side.

The Armenian side has in the meantime accused Azerbaijan of fake news, saying that "Karen Ghazaryan is a resident of the Berdavan village of the Tavush province of the Republic of Armenia, has no connection with the military service, has health problems and has been registered in a relevant medical institution since 2013".

According to the Press Secretary of the Armenian Defence Ministry, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, Karen Ghazaryan has never served in the Armenian Armed Forces. Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan, who is the Chair of the Inter-Agency Commission on Hostages and Missing Persons, has applied to the ICRC Yerevan Office to organize the return of Karen Ghazaryan.

source: commonspace.eu with agencies

phopto: A general view of the Armenia-Azerbaijan line of contact (archive picture)

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