Second Armenian serviceman killed by Azerbaijani troops in one day

YEREVAN, August 17. /ARKA/. A second Armenian serviceman was killed by Azerbaijani troops on August 16 at approximately 6:10 p.m. in Gegharkunik region, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported. It said the Azerbaijani troops used different caliber firearms to shoot at the Armenian positions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

The killed soldier - Private Arman Hakobyan – 19 years old- sustained a fatal gunshot wound as a result of the intense skirmish. According to Armenia's Defense Ministry, the Azerbaijani side has at least three casualties following the Armenian side’s retaliatory fire.

Earlier that day, the Azerbaijani troops provoked a shootout on the section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the Syunik region near the Sev Lich Lake, trying to advance their positions. After the retaliatory actions of the Armenian troops Azerbaijanis retreated to their original positions.

Later on the same day, a senior warrant officer Vahan Tatosyan, born in 1975, was killed by an Azerbaijani sniper near the Yeraskh village in the Ararat region of Armenia.

Armenian human rights defender Arman Tatoyan reported that on August 15, Azerbaijani forces fired at Armenian positions near the village of Aravus in Syunik. The shooting took place in an area where Azerbaijani forces are deployed a few 100 meters away from civilian homes. Azerbaijani forces stopped shooting after municipal authorities, the command of Armenia’s 1st Army Corps and Russian border guards arrived in the area.

On August 17 Tatoyan reported that Azerbaijani armed forces were shelling the villages of Kut and Norabak in Gegharkunik region.

"These actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces are criminal, directly aimed at killing people, undermining the security and peace of the people," Tatoyan said. -0-