The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Karabakh reported the death of policemen during shelling from Azerbaijan

The car of the passport and visa department of the police of Nagorno-Karabakh came under fire from the military of Azerbaijan, three people were killed, another was injured, reported on Sunday on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic.

Police officers were killed on March 5 at about 10:00 in the Haipalu region as a result of a “sabotage penetration” by a group of the Azerbaijani armed forces fired at the duty car of the Passport and Visa Department of the Police in the area called Haipalu, the ministry said.

At the same time, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan accused Armenia in “another provocation” and blamed for what happened on the military-political leadership of the country. The department explained that the units of the Azerbaijani army on the morning of March 5 tried to detain vehicles for inspection, which are supposed to be transporting “military equipment, ammunition and personnel” along the Khankendi-Khalfali-Turshsu road.

“From the opposite side, fire was opened, as a result of the skirmish, there are dead and wounded on both sides,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Baku also stated that the Azerbaijani side “brings to the attention of the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent that the implementation of the points of the tripartite statement must be ensured unconditionally and in full.” They recalled that the only permitted way to travel between Karabakh and Armenia is the Khankendi-Lachin road, and transportation on other routes is “categorically unacceptable.”

“The incident that happened today once again confirms the need for Azerbaijan to create an appropriate checkpoint on the Lachin-Khankendi road. The fact that Armenia carries out military transportation to the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan is a continuation of the aggression and terror policy of this country against Azerbaijan,” the ministry said.

Since the beginning of December 2022, the Armenian side has been talking about the actual blockade of the Lachin corridor in Karabakh by Azerbaijani activists, as a result of which there is a shortage of essential goods in Armenian settlements. Azerbaijan responds with accusations of smuggling weapons through the corridor.

On February 18, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev proposed to organize a checkpoint on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the area of ​​​​the Lachin corridor and the planned Zangezur corridor, which should connect the main Azerbaijani territory with Nakhchivan according to the November 2020 agreements. But the Armenian Foreign Ministry opposed this proposal.