After machine gun attack, police strengthen guarding of Karabakh village

The operation mode of police checkpoints near the village of Sarushen has been strengthened after two civilians were shelled from the Azerbaijani side, the Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported, promising to notify the peacemakers about the incident.

Karen Sargsyan, the head of the Nagorno-Karabakh's MIA, has ordered to strengthen the operation mode of the police checkpoints deployed on the Shosh-Sarushen-Krasny Bazaar highway, the work will continue in an intensified mode. If necessary, the number of posts will be increased for the round-the-clock monitoring, a source from the MIA's press service has stated today.

According to the police, this decision was made after the incident that occurred on April 7 near the village of Sarushen. That morning, two local residents, Shirin Sargsyan, 65, and Vitaly Arutyunyan, 36, were busy with their agrarian work in the field, where they were shelled from the Azerbaijani side. As a result, Arutyunyan's tractor was damaged, the "News.am" has reported today.

Sargsyan and Arutyunyan gave evidence to investigators of the Askeran ROVD (District Interior Division). The policemen have drawn up a protocol, which is planned to be handed over to the command of the Russian peacemaking contingent, the "News-Armenia" has reported today.

Besides, negotiations are underway with the Azerbaijani side through Russian peacemakers, said Unan Tadevosyan, the head of the public relations division of Nagorno-Karabakh's State Emergency Service. "Azerbaijanis have already stated that they had fired 'not on purpose' but just 'made a mistake'," the "Sputnik Armenia" has quoted Mr Tadevosyan as saying on April 11.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 12, 2021 at 11:25 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.