Azerbaijan vows “devastating” strike if attacked

(Baku Daily) - Azerbaijan has promised “devastating” strikes against Armenia in case the latter tries to revenge the Nov. 12 downing of a military helicopter near Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Should the enemy conduct new military operations, Azerbaijan’s armed forces will immediately hit back. The strike will be devastating, causing huge numbers of casualties and damage,” the Defense Ministry in Baku said on its website.

Armenia’s Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan threatened to revenge the shooting down of the Mi-24 helicopter over Azerbaijan’s Agdam District that killed three members of the crew.

Armenia captured nearly one-fifth of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts, in a war after the Soviet breakup in 1991.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a ceasefire in 1994 but no peace agreement has been signed.

Armenia has continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.