STEPANAKERT—The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Ministry reported a large-scale offensive by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the northern Karabakh-Azerbaijan border on Thursday night, which resulted in the death of two Karabakh soldiers. Azerbaijan is reporting that eight soldiers were killed during the assault, which was repelled by the Artsakh armed forces.

Ararat Khanoyan and Azat Asoyan, both 20, were killed during the attack, while Noryar Kamalyan was injured sustaining injuries to his after he was stabbed numerous times by an Azerbaijani soldier.

Kamalyan recalled the battle, saying that as the Azerbaijani soldiers advanced past the line of contact, he retaliated and found himself in a one-on-one physical altercation with one of the soldiers, who took out a knife and began stabbing Kamalyan’s face and pounded his jaw. Despite having sustained injuries, including a gunshot wound, Kamalyan fought back and was able to force the Azerbaijani soldiers to retreat.

The Artsakh Armed Forces also seized a large cache of weapons, ammunition and other military hardware in what is being called a large-scale commando operation launched by the Azerbaijani forces.

On Friday, the Armenian Defense Ministry claimed that the casualties on the Azerbaijani side wer greater than the eight being announced by Baku. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Artsturn Hovannisian, said the Baku underreported losses.

The Karabakh Army also reported that its forces responded to the attacks by advancing toward Azerbaijani positions to repel further attacks in the border region.