ISTANBUL

Azerbaijan on Monday reported that its military positions near the border with Armenia were fired on for a second consecutive day.

Armenian troops ​ in the Basarkechar and Gorus districts fired “intermittently” at Azerbaijani military positions using small arms between 1.25 am and 12.55 pm local time (2125GMT and 1055GMT), said an Azerbaijani Defense Ministry statement.

The report is the fourth to be issued by Baku over the past two days, with the ministry reporting firing by Armenian troops on Sunday on three separate occasions.

Armenia's Defense Ministry issued a standard denial to the new report, claiming that it “does not correspond to reality.”

The report follows both Azerbaijan and Armenia on Thursday separately announcing agreement on a draft peace agreement, set to end a decades-long conflict between the two countries and establish diplomatic ties between Baku and Yerevan.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh – a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan – and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and demarcation talks.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh after separatist forces in the region surrendered.