Armenia says one killed, two injured after Azerbaijani forces open fire in border region

Armenia on Monday (Oct 2) accused Azerbaijani forces of opening fire in a border region and subsequently reported an unspecified number of “casualties,” a claim that Azerbaijan has since denied.

This comes weeks after Baku launched a military operation to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway territory, prompting the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians in the region amid fears of repression and “ethnic cleansing”.

Furthermore, Yerevan has also urged the European Union to sanction Azerbaijan for its military operation, warning that Baku could soon attack Armenia itself unless the West takes firm action.

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What has Armenia said about the border incident?

Earlier on Monday, Armenia’s defence ministry accused Azerbaijani forces of opening fire targeting “a vehicle carrying food for the personnel of the Armenian combat outposts in the vicinity of Kut,” a village in eastern Armenia near the border.

“There are casualties on the Armenian side in the wake of the fire by the Azerbaijani armed forces,” said the Armenian defence ministry. Subsequently, the Azerbaijani defence ministry released a statement rejecting the claims, as per AFP.

Armenia urges EU to sanction Azerbaijan

In an interview with Reuters, Tigran Balayan, Armenia’s envoy to the EU, called for sanctions against Azerbaijan after its military operation in Karabakh, while urging the West to deliver “bold” security assistance to Armenia.

“It’s not only the opinion of the Armenian government, but also of many experts - also some of the EU member states - that an attack on Armenia proper is imminent,” Balayan told Reuters.

Balayan told the news agency that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cannot be trusted, noting European officials have declared he broke promises not to attack Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The failure of...employing this toolbox resulted in the ethnic cleansing of 100,000 to 120,000 of the indigenous Armenian population, including my own family, from their ancestral lands,” said Armenia’s ambassador-designate to the EU.

While some EU senior officials have condemned Baku’s actions, the 27-nation bloc continues its struggle to find consensus on the issue, as per Reuters.What is happening in Karabakh?

Over the weekend, Yerevan said that over 100,000 people from an estimated population of 120,000 had fled since the breakaway region saw its decades-long fight against Baku end in sudden defeat.

Armenian separatists, in a statement on Monday, said their leader Samvel Shahramanyan will stay in Karabakh’s main city of Stepanakert accompanied by “a few hundred” group of officials “until the search and rescue operations for the remainder of those killed and those missing” were completed.

It added, “The government continues to focus on the issue of those citizens who want to move to the Republic of Armenia.”

More than 200 people were killed in fighting Azerbaijan, additionally, around 170 people died in a blast at a fuel depot while tens of thousands of people were fleeing the region.

(With inputs from agencies)

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