A spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry wrote on his Facebook page:
“The ‘diversion’ announced by Azerbaijan is just a good fairy tale for the Azerbaijani society. This is absolute misinformation. The armed forces of Armenia only responded to Azerbaijani provocations, the results of which you see for yourself. Moreover, the Armenian side still shows restraint.”
A shootout has taken place on the Azerbaijani – Armenian line of contact, resulting in several casualties and wounded.
It is still not known exactly who was the first to open fire, and exactly how many people suffered – information from Armenia and Azerbaijan is contradictory.
The incident occurred on the border between the Noyeberan and Gazakh regions.
The active phase of the Karabakh armed conflict took place between 1991-1994. At the moment, the conflict is frozen, Nagorno-Karabakh has the status of an unrecognized republic, and skirmishes periodically occur on the border. The last serious flare up took place in 2016 – the so-called “April war”, or “four-day war”, during which dozens of people were killed.
Information from Baku
According to the State Border Service of Azerbaijan, on the morning of February 24, the Armenian side attacked using grenade launchers and other large-caliber weapons. The Azerbaijani army returned fire.
As a result, one Armenian soldier was killed and another was seriously injured. Azerbaijani border guard Ibrahim Veliyev was also killed, writes Report.
Information from Yerevan
Artsrun Hovhannisyan, press secretary of the Armenian Ministry of Defense, wrote on his Facebook page on that the Azerbaijani armed forces had fired on positions of the Armenian army on February 23.
“As a result, an Armenian soldier was slightly injured, nothing threatens his life. After the return fire from the Armenian side, the Azerbaijanis stopped shooting,” Hovhannisyan writes.