An Azerbaijani serviceman who illegally crossed into Armenia entered a woman’s home in the border village of Shaki in Syunik Province on Thursday and shot her in the leg in front of her 3 children, according to Armenia’s National Security Service and the village head.
Azerbaijan had given Armenia notice 2 days earlier. On September 29, Azerbaijan’s State Security Service told Armenia’s National Security Service that a serviceman from one of its military units had left his place of service under unknown circumstances, and did not rule out that he may have illegally crossed the border of the Republic of Armenia. The competent bodies of both countries then carried out search operations.
A Shaki resident gave Sputnik Armenia an account of what happened next. The resident said the serviceman spent the night in the family’s house while they were away, and that the woman and her 3 children returned home after school and found him there.
“The woman and the 3 children had not spent the night at home. After school the woman came home with the children, saw the Azerbaijani, raised the alarm, and the Azerbaijani shot at the woman,” the resident said. According to the same account, the woman defended herself and struck the Azerbaijani with a knife, after which he fled and hid in a cattle shed, where he was found.
The Interior Ministry’s 112 emergency center received a report at 2:15 p.m. that an Armenian citizen had been shot in the leg in Shaki, which sits in the Sisian community. Operational groups from various police subdivisions were sent to the scene and urgent measures were taken to establish the circumstances.
Shaki village head Manucharyan told Azatutyun that the victim is a local woman and that the shooting happened in front of her 3 children. He said her life is not in danger.
“When we entered the scene, we saw blood traces, but the woman’s life is not in danger,” he said.
The man was armed with an automatic rifle and was not wearing military clothing, Manucharyan said, describing him in black trousers and boots.
“He had entered that woman’s house, he came out of that woman’s house, he fled, and he was wounded himself. We followed the blood traces, and by we I mean myself together with the law enforcement groups, and they neutralized him,” he said.
Manucharyan said he noticed what appeared to be a knife wound to the man’s chest.
Police determined that an Azerbaijani serviceman committed the crime and placed him under arrest.
Armenia has presented details of the incident to the Azerbaijani side. The Investigative Committee has initiated criminal proceedings.
Azatutyun reported that it remains unclear why the armed Azerbaijani was not stopped from entering Armenia over the preceding days, or detected before he reached a village, and whether local residents were warned that he had fled his unit and may have crossed the border.
The Defense Ministry separately said that claims circulating on social media about a serviceman being killed in Sisian do not correspond to reality.
Shaki lies in Syunik, the sovereign Armenian province through which Azerbaijan has demanded a land link to its Nakhichevan exclave for decades. Azerbaijani forces have held positions on sovereign Armenian territory in Syunik and Gegharkunik since May 2021.
