Nagorno-Karabakh: three soldiers of the defense army of the secessionist province killed

Armenian soldiers cross the border between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, near Vardenis, November 8, 2020. AP

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The situation was further tense this Friday, March 25 in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Three soldiers from the secessionist province's defense army were reportedly killed by Azerbaijani forces.

Nagorno-Karabakh is this province populated by just over 100,000 Armenians which had seceded from Azerbaijan at the end of the Soviet era, after a 6-year war.

At the end of 2020, the second Karabakh war, lasting 44 days this one, allowed Azerbaijan to regain control of the territories around the secessionist province, but not of Nagorno-Karabakh itself, hence probably the tensions which have persisted since the ceasefire of November 9, 2020.

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With our correspondent in the South Caucasus,

Three dead, 14 injured including two in critical condition, this is the sad toll of this March 25 in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the Armenian side, Azerbaijani forces intentionally exert tension in the Askeran region, north of the mountainous province.

The victims of the day would have been under fire, in particular from military drones, including Turkish Bayraktar TB-2s.

This new rise in tension comes at the end of two difficult weeks, where the perhaps 100,000 inhabitants of the province were deprived of gas, and therefore of heating, after the only gas pipeline which supplies them was damaged.

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The immediate reason for these scuffles is unclear.

But the current tensions raise fears of greater violence at the end of winter, as many observers in the region predicted on the evening of November 15, after a day when about fifteen Armenian soldiers had been killed. .

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev then expressed his impatience at not seeing the declaration of peace signed at the end of the autumn 2020 war implemented quickly enough in his eyes.

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• Azerbaijan

• Armenia

• Nagorno-Karabakh