Secreaty of State Hillary Clinton meets with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday

STEPANAKERT, BAKU—A soldier of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Armed Forces was killed during clashes around the border in Horadiz, where Azeri units attempted to penetrate the line of contact into Artsakh around 4 a.m. Wednesday local time.

This latest Azeri cease-fire violation came hours before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was to arrive in Baku on the third leg of her visit to the Caucasus.

According to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic media services, the Azeri side also suffered losses.

This is the fourth attempt in June alone by Azeri forces to penetrate the borders with Armenia and Artsakh.

After meeting with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Clinton warned that continued fighting will have “disastrous” consequences.

“I’m very sad about it. As you know, I’m sure, when I arrived in Yerevan, there had been three Armenians killed, and I heard exactly the same concerns about that as I heard today in Azerbaijan. It is painful to think about these young soldiers or anyone being killed, and there’s no military solution to this conflict. We mourn the senseless deaths of Azerbaijani and Armenian alike. And we should honor their deaths by recommitting ourselves to peace and doing everything we can, as quickly as possible, to pursue a path towards peace,” said Clinton.

“There will be a meeting in about, I guess, two weeks between the two foreign ministers who will meet with the Minsk co-chairs. And we will explore some new approaches that I have had the opportunity to discuss with the foreign ministers and with the presidents, because there has to be a solution,” explained Clinton.

“It’s the year 2012. It is past time that we resolved this issue, and I’m going to do everything I can – and I’ve pledged that to both presidents – to help facilitate a resolution and the end of the deaths of anyone around this tragic situation,” concluded Clinton.

On Tuesday, an Azeri unit of 15 soldiers tried to infiltrate the Armenian border near the village of Vosgebar in Tavush but withdrew after incurring heavy losses.

Sources in Baku reported that five Azeri soldiers were killed and several others were wounded. There were no casualties on the Armenian side.

A similar attempt was foiled on June 4, when Azeri forces tried to infiltrate the Armenian border near the Bertavan and Chinari villages in Tavush. Three Armenian soldiers were killed during the incident and several others were wounded.