Nagorno-Karabakh: Four Azerbaijanis killed in mine blast

Azerbaijan recaptured Fizuli in renewed clashes over Nagorno-Karbakh that started in late September

A portrait of a person killed during the conflict hangs outside a house in Ganja, Azerbaijan, that was destroyed by rocket fire from Armenian forces. AP

Four Azeri civilians died on Saturday after their car hit a landmine planted by retreating Armenian soldiers in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general said.

The incident occurred in a village in Fizuli district of the disputed region, a statement said.

“The mine was planted by the Armenian armed forces during their retreat,” and was an anti-tank mine, it said.

The statement called the incident a “new type of provocation” from Armenia.

Running along the border with Iran, Fizuli was among the districts claimed by Armenian fighters in the 1990s war in which separatists declared independence over Nagorno-Karabakh and several surrounding regions.

Azerbaijan recaptured Fizuli in renewed clashes over Karabakh which started in late September and continued for six weeks, killing more than 4,000 people.

The former Soviet states signed a Moscow-brokered peace deal on November 9, ending weeks of heavy fighting and documenting that Yerevan will surrender to Baku several territories that were under the separatists’ control for more than three decades.