Baku: Armenia violates yet another cease-fire

The Armenian army opened fire on Azerbaijani soldiers and settlements in blatant violation of a US-brokered cease-fire, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry statement said that clashes continue in the Hocavend and Fuzuli border regions as well as in the city of Gubadli.

The Azerbaijani army repelled the attacks, it added, destroying the 18th motorized infantry division of the Armenian army and killing key soldiers.

The Azerbaijani army also destroyed a T-72 tank, four D-30 and three D-20 howitzers, an Osa anti-aircraft missile system, a Grad missile system, a radar station and six vehicles of the Armenian army and neutralized a large number of military personnel.

A new US-brokered temporary humanitarian truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia was announced Sunday and came into effect as of 8.00 a.m. local time (0400GMT) on Monday morning.

The first armistice, reached on Oct. 10, was violated within 24 hours as Armenian missile attacks on the Azerbaijani city of Ganja claimed civilian lives.

Another truce on Oct. 17 was also violated by Armenia.

Since fresh clashes erupted on Sept. 27, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces.

To date, at least 65 Azerbaijani civilians have died and 297 others have been injured, while 2,243 houses and 90 multi-apartment residential buildings were destroyed. Also, 402 civil facilities were damaged in Armenian attacks, according to Azerbaijani officials.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly as well as international organizations demand the "immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces" from the occupied Azerbaijani territory.

In total, about 20% of Azerbaijan's territory has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.

World powers including Russia, France and the US have called for a lasting cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.

*Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur