One Soldier Dead, One Wounded as Tensions Rise in Karabakh

A contract serviceman of the Nagorno-Karabakh defense army, 38-year-old Gegham H Manukyan, was fatally wounded by Azerbaijani fire at around 11 am on Wednesday in a military unit deployed in the northern direction of the line of contact between NKR and Azerbaijani forces, NKR defense ministry reports. Concurrently, the officials said, 19-year-old conscript Koryun K Kirakosyan received a non-fatal gunshot wound to the head in a Martakert unit.

The NKR defense ministry had earlier reported an escalation of tensions on the contact line of NKR and Azeri armed forces, accusing Azerbaijan of intensively shelling its frontline positions.

The Azerbaijani defense ministry, in turn, claimed on Tuesday that “at around 5 pm Armenian forces began shelling the Azerbaijani positions to divert the troops’ attention and attempt a sabotage infiltration in another direction.”

The NKR military authorities, however, today rebuffed the Azeri statement, deeming it “disinformation aimed at deluding the international public.”