Armenian soldier killed in clashes with Azerbaijan

The ministry explained that the soldier, Ashot Michaelian, was killed on Sunday night, Monday, by enemy sniper fire from a site in northeastern Armenia.

For its part, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense accused the Armenian army of firing its positions during the past 24 hours by using "heavy machine guns and snipers".

Baku, which has not announced any casualties, has reported 45 incidents on the front line.

The battles between the two countries began on July 12 on the northern border between the two former Soviet republics, the worst clashes between them since 2016, and the clashes have killed at least 19 people, 12 Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians and six Armenian soldiers, according to the official toll.

Yerevan said that an Armenian soldier died due to his wounds in hospital last week.

A dispute between the two countries has been going on for decades over the Nagorny Karabakh hills, a region of Azerbaijan supported by Armenia that has been experiencing war since the beginning of the nineties, killing 30,000 people, and the current clashes that took place away from this region represent a rare escalation.

J.O