BAKU - An Armenian sniper killed an Azerbaijani army officer on Friday at the border between the Caucasus neighbours locked in a dispute over the region of Nagorny Karabakh, Azerbaijan's defence ministry said.
"Senior Lieutenant of the Azerbaijani army Jafar Jafarov has been killed by an Armenian sniper's shot in the ceasefire violation near Alibeyli village of Azerbaijan's Tovuz district," the ministry said in a statement.
Clashes along the Karabakh frontline and on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan are a frequent occurrence despite the 1994 ceasefire that ended a bloody conflict between the two countries over the region.
Friday's incident came as Karabakh re-elected on Thursday its rebel leader Bako Sahakyan for a second presidential term in elections that Baku was prompt to denounce as "illegal".
Armenia-backed separatists seized Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a war in the 1990s that left some 30,000 dead, and no final peace deal has been signed since the ceasefire.
Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force if negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed massive retaliation against any military action.
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