Azerbaijan Forces 'Kill' Armenian Soldier in Border Clash

Azerbaijani troops shot dead one Armenian soldier and wounded another along the volatile border between the two countries, the defense ministry in Yerevan said on Friday.

Private Norair Petrosyan was killed in the incident on Armenia's south-western border with the autonomous Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan, said defense ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovannisyan.

"This latest provocation from the Azerbaijani side is intended to destabilize the situation and will not go unanswered," Hovannisyan said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a festering decades-long feud over the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh.

Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a 1990s war that killed 30,000 people.

Despite years of negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have still not signed a peace deal.

Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force if negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed to retaliate against any military action.