Azernews.Az

Positions of the Azerbaijani army have come under fire by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the liberated Kalbajar region near the border with Armenia, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

On May 19, in the afternoon, the units of the Armenian armed forces stationed in Basarkechar region’s Ashaghi Shorzha settlement near the state border fired at Azerbaijani army positions in the direction of Kalbajar’s Yellija settlement, using small arms, the ministry said.

The Azerbaijani army units took adequate retaliatory measures to suppress the opposite side.

Armenia periodically shells Azerbaijani military positions located on its liberated territories. Since early May Azerbaijani positions have multiple times come under Armenian fire. The previous truce violation took place on May 18 in the same direction.

In the same vein, the army’s engineering troops continue the engineering activities in Azerbaijan’s de-occupied lands, the Defense Ministry said in a separate report on May 19.

Units and subunits of the Azerbaijani army are demining and upgrading the roads to enable safe and uninterrupted vehicle movement, working on fortifying combat positions and trenches, as well as creating new supply routes for the units stationed in complicated terrain.

As a result of the demining activities carried out by the engineer-sapper units in the liberated lands on May 1-19, over 950 hectares of land were totally cleaned of mines and explosive ordnance.

“To date, more than 17,200 hectares of area in the liberated territories have been cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance by the engineer-sapper units. In total, more than 6,000 anti-personnel mines, more than 2,100 anti-tank mines, and more than 9,400 unexploded ordnances have been detected and neutralized,” the ministry said.

The major efforts in the liberated regions are focused on demining settlements, agricultural fields, highways, and infrastructural facilities. Over 140 km of new supply roads have been paved for the units of the armed forces stationed in mountainous and challenging terrain.

Other vital efforts such as identifying and neutralizing mines and explosive ordnance, as well as engineering support in the liberated lands are continuing.

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