Azerbaijani soldier killed near Karabakh: Baku

Azerbaijan: Armenian forces have killed an Azerbaijani soldier on the frontline near the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, the defence ministry in Baku said Monday, amid a recent upsurge in clashes.

"As a result of violations of the ceasefire from the Armenian side... 19-year-old Azerbaijani soldier Elmar Samad Habibzade was killed," defence ministry spokesman Teymur Abdullayev told AFP, saying the incident happened on Saturday.

Tensions have risen along the volatile Karabakh ceasefire line after the killings of two Armenian conscripts the previous weekend, which caused the defence ministry in Yerevan to promise retribution.

"The response of the Armenian side to the death of each Armenian soldier will be disproportionate," the ministry warned last week.

But the defence ministry in Baku denied reports in the Armenian media that up to seven Azerbaijani troops were killed last week during what the Karabakh separatist authorities described as "punitive operations".

The latest confirmed death brings the reported total number of soldiers killed around Karabakh to 22 this year.

Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized the disputed region from Azerbaijan in a war in the 1990s that left some 30,000 people dead, and despite years of negotiations since the 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have not signed a final peace deal.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly threatened to use force to win back Karabakh if internationally mediated peace talks fail to yield satisfactory results, but Yerevan has warned of large-scale retaliation if Baku launches any military action.

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