Azeri Soldier Taken Hostage After Clashes on Nagorno-Karabakh Border, NKR Authorities Say

At around 3 pm on February 1, an Azerbaijani subversive-reconnaissance group, taking advantage of the misty weather, attempted to penetrate the Armenian positions located in Talish, Nagorno-Karabakh military authorities report.

According to the statement, the defense army frontier forces, on timely detection of the Azerbaijani advancement, took preventive measures and stopped the attempt. “As a result of anti-subversive actions, the Armenian frontier forces managed to capture 22-year-old Azerbaijani soldier, a native of the town of Barda Elnur Husseinzade,” authorities said, adding that another Azeri soldier has been wounded.

Azerbaijani military authorities, for their part, issued a statement to claim that one of their soldiers had been wounded in an Armenian attack. “On February 1, Armenian armed units violated the ceasefire regime, and soldier Rauf Isayev received a non-fatal gunshot wound when attempting to prevent the enemy enemy provocation,” the Azerbaijani side said, without mentioning a captured soldier.

In a follow-up statement, however, they insisted that Hussenzade, whom the Armenian side claims to have taken hostage, was no longer a member of the Azerbaijani military. “Hussenizade had previously been dismissed from the Armed Forces to due systematic violations of discipline,” they said.