Five people were killed in clashes between Azerbaijani soldiers and Armenian police within the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh.
Azerbaijan‘s defense ministry stated that two soldiers were killed after a convoy was stopped by soldiers suspected of carrying weapons. The convoy was travelling from the main town of the area to remote areas via an unauthorised road.
Armenia The foreign ministry stated that three representatives from the Karabakh interior ministry had been killed, and dismissed claims that the convoy was carrying arms as “absurd”.
According to the ministry, it was carrying documents and a pistol for service and called the shoot-out an “ambush”.
Nagorno Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its population consists mainly of ethnic Armenians.
The region has been the focus of two wars since the Soviet Union split in three decades.
In 1994, ethnic Armenian forces, supported by Armenia, seized control of Karabakh, and the surrounding areas.
However, Azerbaijan retook large swathes in conflict for six weeks in 2020, which resulted in the deaths of 6,000 people.
The war was ended by a truce, and the dispatching of Russian peacekeepers who remain in the region.
Continue reading: Armenia reports 49 deaths in fighting with Azerbaijan
Although the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met with Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, violence continues to disrupt peace efforts.
The 2020 war was ended by a single road, the Lachin Corridor. It is the only authorized connection between Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia. This road provides a vital link for supplies to the approximately 120,000 residents of the region.
Protesters, believed to be backed Azerbaijani authorities, have blocked the road since December.
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