Azerbaijan confirms more than 70 military deaths in recent fighting with Armenia

Azerbaijani authorities on Thursday raised to more than 70 the number of military personnel killed in the recent fighting with Armenia on the common border, hours after the two countries announced a ceasefire agreement.

The Azeri Defense Ministry has published a brief statement on its website with the updated list of fatalities along with a list containing the names and photographs of 71 Azerbaijani servicemen.

For its part, the Armenian Defense Ministry has confirmed that “as of 8 p.m. (Wednesday local time), the fire has practically stopped from all directions, without significant incidents.”

He has also stressed that “reports circulating on the Internet that some Armenian settlements have fallen under Azeri control is an absolute lie.” “We call again to avoid spreading similar information and to follow the official news,” he has stressed.

Hours earlier, Armenian National Security Council Secretary Armen Grigorian had announced that the two countries had reached a ceasefire agreement as of 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Armenia and Azerbaijan staged a confrontation in 2020 to take control of Nagorno Karabakh, a territory with a majority Armenian population that has been the focus of conflict since it decided to secede in 1988 from the region of Azerbaijan integrated into the Soviet Union.

Hostilities between the two countries lasted for six weeks and left thousands dead. They finally ceased when the two countries reached a Russian-mediated cease-fire agreement, allowing Russian peacekeepers to settle in Nagorno-Karabakh for a period of five years.