On January 12, at approximately 16:00, Misak Hakobyan a 23-year-old conscript serving in the Armenian Armed Forces and stationed in southern Nagorno Karabakh was injured in the line of duty as a result of Azerbaijani gunfire, according to a statement by the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Ministry.
A day earlier, on January 11, around 23:00, an infiltration attempt by Azerbaijani saboteurs along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact near Jraberd and Akna was intercepted. According to the press service of the Nagorno Karabak Defense Army, frontline units were able to stop the Azerbaijani special units and push them back to their starting positions.
Background
Since the beginning of 2015, tensions along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact have been high. In the early morning hours of January 3, an Azerbaijani attack took place against the southern and western positions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army. As a result of military operations by the Defense Army, the adversary was pushed back to its starting position. However, during that attack, two Armenian soldiers, Karen Grigoryan and Vardan Mkrtchyan were killed, while another, Volodya Harutyunyan was injured.
On January 5-6, the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army reported that more than 5000 shots were fired from Azerbaijani positions. According to that report, Azerbaijani military forces utilized different caliber weapons, including 60 and 82 mm mortars and RPG-7 grenades. In response to these ceasefire violations, the Armenian side undertook corresponding military operations, killing at least three Azerbaijani soldiers.
On January 7-8, the ceasefire regime along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact was violated around 400 times with an estimated 5500 rounds of gunfire by the Azerbaijanis.
Tensions along the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border in the northeastern marz of Tavush and in particular on the Noyemberyan-Ghazakh and Berd-Tovuz sections of the border were also high on January 6. CivilNet reporter Tatul Hakobyan reported from Tavush that the Armenian villages of Aygepar, Nerkin Karmiaghpyur and Dovegh had come under heavy Azerbaijani fire from their military positions located in the Azerbaijani villages of Alibeyli and Kemerli. No casualties or injuries were reported.
On January 10-11, an increase in the ceasefire regime was noted along the Line of Contact. Along certain sections of the LoC, the Azerbaijani military has been utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).
