YEREVAN. May 12 (Interfax) - Armenian positions in the country's east have been attacked by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the Armenian Defense Ministry said.
"At 4:50 p.m. on May 12, Azerbaijani military units opened fire with large-caliber small arms on Armenian positions in the vicinity of Kut [a village in the Armenian Gegharkunik region on the border with Azerbaijan]," the ministry's press service said.
Armenian troops undertook appropriate measures to defend themselves and to foil the enemy's activity, it said.
The situation in eastern Armenia escalated on the morning of May 11. The Armenian Defense Ministry said that mortars were fired at its military positions in the vicinity of Sotk. In the evening it reported an artillery strike near Norabak and a mortar attack in the vicinity of Verin Shorzha. On Friday, the ministry reported a drone attack on its positions near Sotk. Six Armenian servicemen were wounded on both Thursday and Friday.
All these settlements are situated in the Gegharkunik region of eastern Armenia. They are within ten and 20 km of one another and are located approximately 20 km east of Lake Sevan.
The Sotk gold mine is operated by GeoProMining nearby. Its operations have been on hold since April 11 due to regular attacks. The gold mine used to be within Armenian-controlled territory, but as a result of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and the subsequent peace treaty it was split in two, with one part ending up in Azerbaijan's Kalbajar district.
Last Thursday, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said one of its soldiers was killed and another heavily wounded by Armenian shelling in the border area.