An Azerbaijani army serviceman was shot and killed by Armenian troops in the northwest of the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region on Dec. 27, the Ministry of Defense said.Sarxan Qasimov, 18, was shot by an Armenian sniper near the village of Cayli, the ministry said. The serviceman, who had been called up from Agstafa District in January, was posthumously decorated with a medal for an exemplary service by an order of the minister of defense, Col-Gen Zakir Hasanov.Armenians captured nearly 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, in a war after the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azeri nationals were killed and a million displaced as a result of the occupation.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a ceasefire in 1994 but the sides have yet to sign a peace agreement.

ANN.Az