Armenia announced today, Tuesday, that two of its soldiers were killed by Azerbaijani fire along the militarized border, marking the first deadly incident since both sides began negotiations last year aimed at reaching an agreement to end the intermittent wars that have erupted between them for over 30 years. The Armenian Defense Ministry stated in a Telegram message that two of its soldiers were killed and others were injured at a military site near the village of Nerk'in Hand in the south of the country.
The Azerbaijani border service claimed in a statement that it carried out a "retaliatory operation" in response to what it described as a "provocation" by Armenian forces the day before. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry explained that Armenian troops fired Monday evening at Azerbaijani positions along a section in the northwestern border about 300 kilometers from Nerk'in Hand. The Armenian Defense Ministry denied that this incident occurred.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a conflict for over three decades over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan regained control of Karabakh in a swift assault last September, leading to the mass displacement of nearly all Armenian inhabitants from the area and bolstering both sides' efforts to reach a treaty to officially end the conflict.
Although incidents of deadly exchanges of fire have remained common between Armenia and Azerbaijan for decades, the situation along the border has become more stable since the talks began, with only a few serious confrontations occurring since the fall of Karabakh in September 2023. Peace talks have appeared stalled in recent months, amid mutual accusations of undermining diplomatic efforts.
