Azerbaijani soldier martyred in Armenian attack

ANKARA

An Azerbaijani soldier was martyred in an attack by Armenian forces that targeted a border village in Qazakh province, local authorities said Thursday.

Orkhan Pashazade was wounded in a sniper attack and was taken to a provincial hospital, but died due to his injuries, said Azerbaijan’s State Border Service.

The attack at 7.10 p.m. local time (1510GMT) at the line of contact "roughly violated" a cease-fire between the two countries, authorities added.

The Armenian "military-political leadership" is responsible for this crime, it added.

Upper Karabakh is the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan illegally occupied by Armenia through military aggression since 1991.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two by the General Assembly, as well as decisions by many other international organizations, refer to the occupation and demand the withdrawal of the occupational Armenian forces from Upper Karabakh and seven other occupied regions of Azerbaijan.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Minsk group -- co-chaired by France, Russia and the U.S. -- was formed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but has not reached any results.