Nagorno-Karabakh blames Azerbaijan for village mortar shelling

Azerbaijani militaries fired several mortar shots in the direction of the village of Khnushinak, the Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated. There were no casualties or damage, the village administration has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported with reference to the Nagorno-Karabakh MoD that on March 8, Azerbaijani militaries fired three shells from a grenade launcher towards the village of Khramort in the Askeran District. In its turn, Baku has claimed that Azerbaijani servicemen opened a return fire, but did not target the village.

Azerbaijan is "deliberately aggravating the situation," Artak Beglaryan, the State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, has suggested. "Of course, this provocation is primarily aimed at intimidating our society. On the other hand, there are obvious attempts to denigrate Russian peacemakers," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

In his turn, Gegam Stepanyan, the Nagorno-Karabakh Ombudsperson, has reproached "Azerbaijani sources" for spreading "false rumours about ceasefire violations by the Armenian party."

"Azerbaijan wants to justify encroachments on the civilian population and at the same time prepare the ground for subsequent provocations," Mr Stepanyan has stated.

The Karabakh Defence Army has also refuted Azerbaijan's statement that Karabakh had shelled Azerbaijani positions, the "News-Armenia has reported.

It should be noted that in February, after the intervention of Russian peacemakers and Karabakh authorities, Azerbaijani militaries stopped demanding from Khramort villagers to abandon their homes.