STEPANAKERT. – The situation remains tense at the frontline.

For the first time, Azerbaijan used a tank to fire mortar shells at the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Defense Army military positions that are located in a southerly direction. 

Press service of the NKR Defense Army informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that the adversary violated the ceasefire along the Line of Contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces over 180 times, from Tuesday to early Wednesday morning.

During this time Azerbaijan fired around 1,500 shots at the Armenian military positions, and by way of rifle weaponry, mortars, grenade launchers, and a reactive rocket propelled howitzer (TR-107).

And as a result of the adversary’s sniper rifle shot, Defense Army contract soldier Garik Avanesyan, 24, was fatally wounded on Tuesday at around 9:10pm, at the military foothold of a Defense Army unit located in an easterly direction.

An investigation is underway to find out the details of this incident.

The NKR Ministry of Defense stated that Azerbaijan’s destabilizing actions will not go unpunished, and the consequences of this situation will be severe and irreversible.