Baku declares anti-terrorism operation in Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan

BAKU, December 13. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s State Security Service carried out an anti-terrorism operation in the outskirts of the Hadrut village in Nagorno-Karabakh, it said in a joint statement with the republic’s Defense Ministry on Sunday.

"After the signing of the November 10 (November 9 Moscow Time - TASS) joint statement on a ceasefire Armenia’s armed units remained in the forests to the northwest of the Hadrut village. The Armenian side requested the assistance of the command of Russia’s peacekeeping contingent in withdrawing these units," according to the statement.

Azerbaijan’s State Security Service and the Defense Ministry stressed that Baku "had created all conditions for withdrawing Armenian units from the above mentioned territory." "However, they did not leave the area but on the contrary created combat positions and carried out several acts of sabotage against Azerbaijan’s military and civilians. As a result, four servicemen were killed and two others were wounded and another civilian was also wounded," the statement said.

"The State Security Service of Azerbaijan was forced to conduct an anti-terrorism operation," it said. In their turn, Russia’s peacekeepers showed professionalism and high responsibility in fulfilling their tasks on preserving the ceasefire and evacuating the Armenian units.

Baku demands Yerevan meet its commitments as part of the joint statement on ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. "The Republic of Azerbaijan is committed to fulfilling the points outlined in the joint statement of the three countries’ leaders and continues closely cooperating with Russia’s peacekeeping forces in order to ensure peace in the region," according to the statement.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. Under the agreement, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintained the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region. In addition, Azerbaijan regained control over the Agdamsky, Kelbadzharsky and Lachinsky districts.