By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan on Friday said that two of its servicemen were injured due to an Armenian drone attack in the country’s Kalbajar district.
“On the morning of September 1, the units of the Armenian armed forces in the direction of Zod of the Basarkechar district launched an unmanned aerial vehicle attack against the positions of the Azerbaijani Army located in the territory of the Kalbajar district,” the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The statement said that two servicemen were injured due to the attack, indicating that Azerbaijani units are taking “decisive response measures” toward the mentioned region.
In an earlier statement, the Defense Ministry also reported clashes with Armenian forces in the same area, where another Azerbaijani serviceman was injured.
“Our serviceman, who was injured as a result of provocation by the other side, was immediately given first aid and evacuated to a military medical institution,” the statement said.
It further said that Azerbaijani military positions in the region are being fired upon and that the country’s units are taking response measures.
“We inform you that the military and political leadership of this country (Armenia) bears all the responsibility for the provocation caused by Armenia,” it added.
Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
In the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages, and settlements from Armenian occupation during 44 days of clashes. The war ended with a Russia-brokered peace agreement.
Despite ongoing talks over a long-term peace agreement, tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia rose in recent months over the Lachin road, the only land route giving Armenia access to the Karabakh region, where Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint in April on the grounds of preventing the illegal transport of military arms and equipment to the region.