Azeri Machine Gun Fire Halts OSCE Monitoring

OSCE monitoring mission

Azreri Machine Gun Fire Halts OSCE Monitoring

STEPANAKERT—The scheduled monitoring of the Azeri-Nagorno-Karabakh Republic border by the OSCE Mission in Hardut was suspended because of submachine gun fire  from the Azeri side in the direction of the Karabakh positions, reported the Karabakh Defense Army.

The shots at the border, often referred to as the “line of contact” were registered by the monitoring groups of both sides.

Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, who headed the mission from the Armenian side, decided to suspend the monitoring for security considerations.

An Armenian army captain, Gevorg Mnatsakanian, was killed and three other servicemen were wounded late on Wednesday after hitting a landmine at a western section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier. The Defense Ministry in Yerevan gave few other details of the incident, saying only that the soldiers were performing a “combat task” in the area, reported RFE/RL.