Azerbaijan launches "anti-terrorist activities" in Karabakh

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Systematic shelling of the positions of the Azerbaijani Army by formations of the Armenian armed forces in the Karabakh region, continuation of mining of our territories, carrying out works on engineering improvement of combat positions, as well as increasing the number of trenches and dugouts in recent months have caused even greater tension," it was reported.

The reinforcement of Armenia's combat positions with personnel, equipment and other firepower, the creation of additional mobilisation units, and the expansion of reconnaissance activities are also noted. As well as repeated mining of territories and civilian roads cleared of mines for sabotage and terrorist purposes.

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said that the anti-terrorist measures were launched to "ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Statement, suppression of large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, disarmament and withdrawal of Armenian armed forces formations from our territories, neutralisation of their military infrastructure, ensuring the security of the peaceful population".

Within the framework of the measures with the use of high-precision weapons in the front line and in depth, the positions of the Armenian armed forces formations, their long-term fire points, as well as combat means and military facilities are put out of action," the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry added.

It is noted that the civilian population and civilian infrastructure objects are not the targets of anti-terrorist measures.

The command of the "peacekeeping contingent" of the Russian Federation and the leadership of the Joint Turkish-Russian Monitoring Centre were also informed about the measures.