One Azerbaijani civilian was killed,  while eight were severely wounded in an attack by Armenian forces in several villages near the line of contact on Wednesday night, the head of Aghdam region of Azerbaijan Ragib Mammadov said on Thursday.

"The killed civilian was fatally wounded as a result of artillery shelling and gunfire from the Armenian forces and died in the hospital at Wednesday night. Two out of the eight injured civilians are in critical condition," he said.

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry on Thursday accused the Armenian side of violating a ceasefire on Wednesday night with intense shelling and targeting civilians and military posts of Azerbaijani army in Terter and Aghdam areas.

According to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, the Armenian army shelled villages and Azerbaijani army positions using 60-mm, 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and 122-mm howitzers D-30.

It pointed out in a statement that "in accordance with operational situation, the Azerbaijani armed forces inflicted retaliatory strikes on military facilities of Armenian army."

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claimed that over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces broke ceasefire on various parts of the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

Heavy fighting broke out on April 2 between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The clash lasted several days and left more than 70 soldiers dead on both sides before a ceasefire was agreed in Moscow on April 5.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988 when the enclave dominated by ethnic Armenians claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Armenians have controlled the mountainous enclave in Azerbaijan and adjacent territory since the 1990s.

Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a cease-fire was reached, but there have been occasional minor clashes.

Sporadic clashes between the two sides have thwarted international efforts, led by France, Russia and the United States,  to end the dispute, which has killed about 30,000 people.

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by Xinhua News Agency

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