Situation in Armenian border village calm after Azerbaijani aggression

The governor of an Armenian border village which closed an interstate highway after the Sunday subversive act by the Azerbaijani military says the situation is now calm following the tension.

Speaking to Tert.am, the mayor of Baghanis (Tavush region), Narek Sahakyan, said the shoot-outs have already stopped.

The Yerevan-Tbilisi highway was temporarily suspended for security reasons after the incident.

The Azerbaijani armed troops made a border infiltration attempt in the vicinities of Baghanis at around 5:30 pm on Sunday. The Armenian side managed to neutralize a possible aggression. A herdsman, identified as Seryozha N Sargsyan, 80, was also reported to have been on the scene at the time of the attack.

“This is already the fourth or fifth time that we close the highway for a few days for security considerations after the situation becomes tense,” the village mayor said.

He added that they had heard shoot-outs until midnight. “Two houses were harmed. The damage is material, thank God, but there were no shoot-outs against the village after 1:00 o’clock. The situation is now calm, so we live in our usual routine way without any anxiety,” Sahakyan said, adding that they fully trust the military.

Asked what the herdsman was doing in a border zone at this time of winter (the man is reported to be a resident of the village Voskevaz, Aragatsotn region), Sahakyan replied that their weather conditions are that so bad for grazing cattle now. “It isn’t good life that made them drive the cattle to the post; we have no other place to graze them,” he noted.