Azerbaijan launches anti-terrorism military action in Nagorno Karabakh. Photo/BBC
BAKU – Ministry of Defense Azerbaijan said it had started an “anti-terrorist” operation in the region Nagorno-Karabakh which was under ethnic-Armenian control.
Tensions in the South Caucasus have been rising for months around the breakaway enclave, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
Air raid sirens and mortar fire were heard in Karabakh’s main city.
Eleven Azerbaijani police officers and civilians were reported killed in mine explosions and other incidents.
Defense officials in the breakaway region said the Azerbaijani military had violated the ceasefire along the line of contact with missile-artillery strikes. Another Karabakh representative spoke of a large-scale military offensive.
Neighboring countries Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, first in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union and again in 2020.
Three years ago, Azerbaijan reclaimed territory in and around Karabakh that Armenia had controlled since 1994.
Since December, Azerbaijan has implemented an effective blockade of the only route to the enclave from Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor.
2023-09-19 15:58:17
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