Baku, September 19, AZERTAC

Systematic shelling of positions of the Azerbaijan Army by the formations of Armenia’s armed forces using weapons of different calibers, continued mining of our territories, enhancement of engineering support for battle positions, as well as an increase in the number of trenches and shelters in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in the past few months have further escalated the tensions, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry told AZERTAC.

“In this regard, we have also registered fortification of battle positions with military personnel, armored vehicles, artillery gun mounts, and other firepower, bringing units to a high level of combat readiness, creation of additional mobilization units, expansion of reconnaissance activities against units of the Azerbaijan Army, as well as penetration in-depth of our positions to carry our reconnaissance-subversion acts by re-planting mines across already demined areas and the roads used for civilian purposes.

On September 19, a vehicle belonging to Azerbaijan State Agency for Automobile Roads exploded hitting a land mine previously planted by the reconnaissance-subversion groups of Armenia’s armed forces in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, with the purposes of committing terror act, on the Ahmadbayli-Fuzuli-Shusha Road that killed two civilians. The same day, the explosion of vehicle carrying the military personnel of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the mine, installed by the reconnaissance-subversion groups of Armenia’s armed forces led to fatalities and injuries among our military servicemen. Such facts are the testimony to the ongoing deliberate and planned policy of terror by Armenia against Azerbaijan.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that contrary to the provisions of the Trilateral Statement signed on 10 November 2020, the continued presence of Armenia’s armed forces formations in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is the source of grave threat to regional peace and stability.

Therefore, local anti-terrorist activities have been launched to ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Statement, suppress large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, to disarm and secure the withdrawal of formations of Armenia’s armed forces from our territories, neutralize their military infrastructure, provide the safety of the civilian population returned to the territories liberated from occupation, the civilians involved in construction and restoration work and our military personnel, and ultimately restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

As part of the measures, positions on the front line and in-depth, long-term firing points of the formations of Armenia’s armed forces, as well as combat assets and military facilities are incapacitated using high-precision weapons.

We reiterate that the civilian population and civilian infrastructure facilities are not targeted. Only legitimate military targets are being incapacitated.

The command of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation and the leadership of the Turkish-Russian Monitoring Center are informed about the ongoing activities,” the ministry noted.