Armenian law enforcement authorities have detained an armed Azerbaijani serviceman in the southern Syunik Province following an intrusion into the village of Shaki that left a local civilian wounded, officials reported on Wednesday.
According to the National Security Service (NSS), the suspect was identified as a soldier who had abandoned his military post across the border days earlier. The incident triggered a coordinated search operation between Armenian and Azerbaijani security structures before culminating in the armed confrontation in Shaki village.
Timeline of the Border Intrusion and Search
The sequence of events began on September 29, when Azerbaijan’s State Security Service notified the NSS that a serviceman had left his unit under unclear circumstances, according to Armenpress. Baku’s security agency indicated that the soldier might have crossed the international border into Armenian territory, prompting both nations to initiate search protocols.
For nearly two days, authorities tracked potential indicators of the missing soldier’s location. The search ended abruptly on October 1 at approximately 2:15 p.m., when the 112 emergency response center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs received urgent calls reporting a shooting in Shaki village.
Confrontation in Shaki Village
Local administrative officials and police units responding to the emergency discovered that the armed intruder had entered residential property. Shaki village head Ruben Manucharyan told The Armenian Report that the soldier, equipped with an automatic rifle, entered a village home and confronted the resident in front of her three children.
Local accounts cited by regional reporters indicated that the woman attempted to defend herself with a knife during the struggle before sustaining a gunshot wound to the leg. Additional local reports noted that the serviceman had earlier entered another unoccupied home in the village, where children later discovered him sleeping before alerting their parents.
Police operational groups dispatched to the scene quickly surrounded the area, identified the assailant as the missing Azerbaijani soldier, and took him into custody without further incident. Emergency medical services treated the injured resident at the scene; officials confirmed that her life is not in danger.
Investigation and Official Response
Following the arrest, Armenia’s Investigative Committee formally initiated criminal proceedings into the border breach and shooting.
Armenian authorities confirmed that full details of the incident, along with the circumstances of the soldier’s detention, have been formally communicated to the Azerbaijani side through official channels. The investigation remains ongoing as police and security services work to establish all operational aspects of how the serviceman navigated the border region.