BAKU. June 22 (Interfax-AVN) - A shootout occurred on Tuesday in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict zone in the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-speaking enclave in Azerbaijan, the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Interfax.
Azerbaijani servicemen were attacked by Armenian forces, which opened fire from their positions in the occupied Fizuli and Agdam districts, 240 kilometers west of the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, the press service said.
The shootout took place one day before a visit by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Chairman-in-Office's representative Andrzej Kasprzyk and his aides to monitor the parties' observance of the cease-fire, which was declared in May 1994.
Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and another seven neighboring districts as a result of a conflict with Armenia in the 1990s. The U.S., Russian and French co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group are mediators in the conflict. Baku is seeking to restore control over the territories.