Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry announced that Novruz Niftaliyev, a soldier, was killed late Sunday by an Armenian mine. The mine was planted in the Tartar district, which came back under Azerbaijani control in the wake of the 2020 Karabakh war, the ministry said. The incident is being investigated, the ministry added.
"Azerbaijanis continue to be killed and maimed by landmines planted by Armenia. Today a military serviceman was killed by landmine explosion. Since the end of 2020 war, 288 Azerbaijanis became victims, including 50 killed. The international community should voice concern on Armenian landmine threat,” it said on Twitter.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions. A truce has been in force between the neighbors since a 2020 war that forced Armenia to cede territories it had occupied for decades.
