An Azerbaijani army officer was shot and killed by Armenian fire today, the Ministry of Defense said.

Captain Elnur Cafarov, 36, was fatally wounded at 1345 local time in Tartar District, northeast of the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the ministry said on its website. 

It was the second death in clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in the past three days.

An Armenian soldier had been killed on the night of Jan. 19-20.

Armenians captured nearly 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, in a war after the Soviet Union’s breakup in 1991.

More than 20,000 people were killed and nearly 1 million Azerbaijanis displaced before Russia brokered a ceasefire in 1994.

The sides have yet to sign a peace agreement despite more than 20 years of talks mediated by the US, Russia and France.

ANN.Az