STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL) — One unit of “military defense equipment” of the Karabakh defense army was partially damaged during a guided missile strike launched by Azerbaijani armed forces on Monday, May 15, according to Defense Ministry officials in Yerevan and Stepanakert.
In a Facebook post Artsrun Hovannisian, a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, said the incident happened in the afternoon as Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire at one of the Armenian defense facilities located in the eastern direction of the heavily militarized line of contact.
The official did not specify what kind of military hardware was hit by the Azerbaijani fire.
Earlier, Azerbaijan’s Trend news agency quoted the country’s Defense Ministry as saying that an Armenian Osa air defense system, a supply vehicle and its crew were destroyed. The Ministry added that the system’s deployment near the line of contact was a “provocation” and a threat to Azerbaijani aircraft.
Both Hovannisian and his Karabakh counterpart Senor Hasratian denied that there had been casualties on the Armenian side as a result of the Azerbaijani strike.
In an identical message posted on their Facebook accounts both officials said: “We state that the provocation of the Azerbaijani armed forces will not remain unanswered, while the entire responsibility for the consequences will lie with the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan.”
