New Delhi: The Armenian Defence Ministry on Wednesday said two Indian citizens have been injured by Azerbaijani shelling in the town of Yeraskh, close to the border with Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave, news agency Reuters reported.
In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger app, the Defence Ministry said that the two Indian nationals who were involved in construction work at a foreign-financed metallurgical plant in Yeraskh were injured.
It is to be noted that Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been locked in conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region for over three decades, regularly exchange fire across their shared borders, but foreign nationals are not usually affected.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani military positions in the Nakhchivan enclave were targeted by Armenian forces, the country's Defense Ministry said. "On June 14, at 10 a.m. (0600GMT), the units of the Armenian armed forces ... fired intensively once again from different caliber weapons on the positions of the Azerbaijan Army in the Heydarabad settlement ... of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic," a statement by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry read.
The statement further said that the Azerbaijani military fired in response and the situation is under control now.
"Furthermore, we strongly reject the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia claiming Azerbaijan allegedly purposefully targeted the metallurgical plant under construction in Armenia," the statement added.
It is to be noted that similar incidents of firing have been reported in the past.
Notably, in 2020 after 44 days of fighting, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from the Armenian occupation. The Russian-brokered peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan. However, despite ongoing talks on a peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan, tensions between the two neighboring countries have increased over the recent months over the Lachin corridor, the only land route giving Armenia access to Karabakh.