By Mark Dovich
Relative calm had returned to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border by Wednesday morning, according to Armenia’s Defense Ministry, after a firefight near the Armenian border village of Tegh Tuesday afternoon left at least four Armenian soldiers and three Azerbaijani soldiers dead.
“During the night, no significant ceasefire violations by the enemy were recorded,” Armenia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. “As of 8:00 a.m., the situation on the front line remains relatively stable.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the defense ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan each reported that a deadly firefight had broken out near Tegh, the final Armenian village on the road to Nagorno-Karabakh, which self-styled Azerbaijani environmental activists have been blocking since last December.
Yerevan later reported four soldiers killed and six others wounded, while Baku reported three soldiers killed and four others wounded, marking a major escalation in tensions between the two sides.
Of the six wounded Armenian soldiers, three suffered mild injuries, while the other three have been hospitalized for “moderate, severe, and extremely severe” injuries respectively, according to Armenia’s Defense Ministry.
Tegh residents told CivilNet’s Syunik correspondent Tuesday evening that the situation in the village had calmed down considerably after several hours of shooting.
Nagorno Karabakh Observer, an independent Twitter account, said Wednesday it had geolocated videos appearing to show heavy gunfire exchanges between the two sides to an area along the border less than two kilometers from Tegh. CivilNet has not been able to independently verify the footage’s authenticity.
Late last month, Armenia’s National Security Service said Azerbaijani troops had advanced 100-300 meters into Armenia at five points along the two countries’ border. That included the area around Tegh, Armenian officials later specified.
After the firefight broke out, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan cut short an official trip to Brussels to return to Armenia, according to a ministry spokesperson.
