Azerbaijani defense minister orders to destroy Armenian occupying forces by any means

Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 24 By Ilkin Izzet – Trend: In accordance with the order of Azerbaijani defense minister, colonel-general Zakir Hasanov, the enemy, which penetrated the Azerbaijani land, must be destroyed by any means, head of the press service of the defense ministry of Azerbaijan Vagif Dargahli told Trend Aug.24. He said that this is why the Azerbaijani armed forces inflicted crushing blows on the enemy August 22. The fighting spirit and the will to win of the Azerbaijani army personnel are at a high level, he said. The head of the press service said that it would be wrong to link the current events on the contact line with the ones that happened last year. “We constantly observe diversions of the Armenians not only during summer, but since the beginning of the year until today as well,” he said. “The tension on the contact line of troops has always existed. Armenian armed forces always violated the ceasefire. In recent years, Armenia started to increase the ceasefire violations, as evidenced by official messages of the press service of the ministry,” he said. “The enemy has felt our strikes,” the head of the press service said. “Recently, the enemy began to use large-caliber weapons, and now 60 mm and 82 mm mortars are used. Therefore, a massive retaliatory mortar and artillery fire attack on the predetermined directions on the frontline and in the rear of the enemy was launched time, including on the positions, posts, trenches, lines of communication.” “As a result, the enemy suffered losses,” Dargahli said. “But the enemy was trying to hide the losses, as always. Five soldiers of the Armenian armed forces were killed and eight wounded, according to our information. On our side, three soldiers were injured. The reason for the lack of losses and a small number of the injured is strict compliance of personnel with the safety rules.” On the evening of August 22, the Armenian armed forces, once again treacherously violated the ceasefire and opened fire on positions of Azerbaijani army in the direction of Aghdam and Khojavend districts using 60 mm and 82 mm mortars and large-caliber weapons, according to the message. After assessing the operational situation emerged in the mentioned direction of the frontline, the command of Azerbaijani armed forces decided to strike back with mortars and cannons, in certain directions on the frontline and in the rear of the enemy's defense, as well as at the positions, posts, trenches, lines of communication. Despite the efforts to once again hide the amount of losses, the Armenian side lost five soldiers and eight more have been wounded, according to obtained information. After a short fierce firefight, the command of Azerbaijani armed forces decided to temporarily stop shooting, so that the enemy could take the bodies of the dead away and assist the wounded. As a result of the enemy shelling, three Azerbaijani soldiers suffered minor shrapnel wounds. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency