Azerbaijan flies drone over Karabakh capital as Minsk Group visits region

PanARMENIAN.Net - A spokesperson for the Karabakh President confirmed Friday, April 7, that Azerbaijan flew an unmanned aerial vehicle to Stepanakert as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs were visiting Karabakh's capital.

"The Azeri drone was destroyed during the Co-chairs' meeting with the President," Davit Babayan said in a tweet. "Flying a UAV during the mediators' visit is a combination of terrorism and stupidity."

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 44 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 122 were wounded in the course of military operations.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drones, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.