BAKU. Aug 4 (Interfax) - The number of Azeri troops killed over the past few days on the contact line with the Azeri military has soared to 13.
An Azeri army serviceman, Anar Garazade, who was injured in a skirmish over the weekend, has died in a hospital, the Azeri Defense Ministry said on Monday.
"Despite their efforts, doctors have been unable to save the private," the statement said.
The Azeri defense minister, Col. Gen. Zakir Gasanov, has ordered Garazade to be awarded posthumously with a medal For Excellence in Military Service.
Earlier, the Azeri defense minister bestowed posthumous government awards to 12 Azeri soldiers who were killed on the Azeri-Armenian contact line in the past few days.
The Azeri Foreign Ministry blamed Yerevan for the current situation in the Karabakh conflict zone.
The ministry said in a statement last Sunday that over the past few days the Armenian army had been attacking the Azeri army positions in breach of the ceasefire on the Azeri-Armenian border and military contact line.
"These provocative actions by Armenia have led to a significant rise in tensions along the entire frontline and substantial human casualties," the statement said.
For its part, Yerevan laid full blame on Baku for breach of ceasefire in the Karabakh conflict zone.
"Being the initiator of the provocations, Azerbaijan has been trying to pass responsibility to other sides. It is obvious that by rejecting international proposals to create (border) incident investigation mechanisms, Azerbaijan assumes full responsibility for violation of the truce," Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan told journalists last weekend.