Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of firing towards a residential house in the village of Nerkin Hand in the Syunik Province.
The Armenian Defence Ministry reported that on 20 June, between 08:00–09:00, units of the Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire in the direction of the village of Nerkin Hand, ‘causing damage to a residential house’. There were no casualties.
Attached to the press release were a series of photos showing what appeared to be bullet holes in a roof.
That same day, RFE/RL reported that five bullets were fired during the incident towards a house owned by Vahagn Poghosyan. The article also highlighted that Poghosyan has a nine-month-old child.
Poghosyan told RFE/RL that while their house was only 100 metres from the Azerbaijani positions in a straight line, the shooting was irregular.
‘Yesterday morning was the same, but twice as light’, he said.
Residents told RFE/RL that the shooting on 19 June was the first in around a year and a half — the last incident occurred in February 2024, when four Armenians were killed in an Azerbaijani ‘revenge operation’, after an Azerbaijani soldier was wounded along the border between the two countries.
Given the length of time between these cases, residents told RFE/RL that the recent shootings took the village by surprise.
‘You can’t go out, you can’t take shelter, especially since we don’t have a basement, we don’t have a safe place, so you have to be patient, until it gets quiet, and then come out’, local resident Lusine Babayan told RFE/RL.
This marks the ninth case that Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of damaging civilian objects in the border villages since 31 March, with all statements containing photos showing damage allegedly caused as a result, along with bullet fragments.
The accusation was also the latest in a series of mutual ceasefire violation accusations by the two countries since they agreed on the terms of a peace agreement in March, which has remained in limbo with Azerbaijan pushing for preconditions.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
