The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis has claimed its first victim in 2020. Azerbaijan reports that one of its soldiers, a member of the Azerbaijani Border Guards Service, was killed by an Armenian sniper in the afternoon of Tuesday (7 January). The deceased serviceman was named as Farzaly Alimovsum oglu Farzaliev. The incident was reported to have taken place in the northern sector of the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan where the Azerbaijan region of Kazakh meets with the Armenian region of Tavush,
Armenia has not confirmed the incident. But the spokesperson of the Armenian Defence Ministry, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, wrote on facebook on Tuesday evening that Armenian forces opened warning fire when Azerbaijanis tried to do engineering works in the area. This claim has been strongly denied by the Azerbaijani side who insist that no engineering work was taking place, and that this was an unprovoked breach of the cease fire.
The situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and on the Armenia-Azerbaijan international border had been reasonably quiet over the festive season with no major incidents reported. Yesterday's death is therefore an ominous sign, and may mean further incidents may occur in the coming days.
source: commonspace.eu with agencies
