December 19, 2015 - 11:01 AMT
Defense Minister visits Karabakh amid escalation on contact line

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan has made a surprise visit to Nagorno Karabakh on Saturaday, December 19, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry said in a Facebook post.

“In the framework of constant cooperation and coordination of actions between Armenia’s Defense Ministry and Karabakh Defense Army, Minister Ohanyan will meet with Karabakh authorities and the command staff of the Defense Army,” Artsrun Hovhannisyan said.

“At the meeting, issues concerning the situation along the contact line will be discussed. The situation was extremely tense on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border at night. Artillery weapons, tanks were used, with several Azerbaijani subversive groups thrown back to their positions. Additional information will further be provided.”

The Azerbaijani troops have initiated several subversive attacks in various directions of the contact line with Nagorno Karabakh on the night of December 18.

Identifying the Azerbaijani groups on time, Karabakh Defense Army units took retaliatory measures, throwing the saboteurs back to their positions.

At least 2 Azeri soldiers were killed and others wounded as a result.

Also, Karabakh Army serviceman Fidar Aloyan, aged 19, was lethally wounded during retaliation.