Karabakh soldier killed in new clash with Azerbaijan

YEREVAN: Azerbaijani forces on Wednesday killed an Armenian soldier of the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh’s Army, the separatist Defense Ministry said, in the latest of a string of bloody clashes in the disputed region.
“Azerbaijani armed forces attempted to attack Armenia’s defensive positions” at the Karabakh frontline, the separatist Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The Karabakh Army’s “serviceman Nahapet Asatrian, 33, was killed in action.”
Azerbaijan is locked in a years-long conflict with Armenia over Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.
Sparking fears of a fresh escalation, clashes along Karabakh’s volatile frontline and across the Armenian-Azerbaijani border intensified in January following an unprecedented spiral of violence last year.
Two Karabakh soldiers were reportedly killed in similar incidents on Tuesday and Saturday.
Ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of the territory during a 1990s war that left some 30,000 dead.
Despite years of negotiations, the two sides have not yet signed a final peace deal, with Karabakh internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.
Baku, whose military spending exceeds Armenia’s entire state budget, has threatened to take back the region by force if negotiations fail to yield results.
Armenia, which is heavily armed by Russia, says it could crush any offensive.