Armenia soldier killed, Azerbaijan rejects claim

BY A STAFF REPORTER: Armenia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that one of its soldiers had been shot dead by an Azerbaijani sniper near the border, but Azerbaijan denied the claim and separately said its troops were the victims of firing from Armenia in other parts of the border area. On Sunday, Azerbaijan announced that it had opened a checkpoint at the beginning of the road from Armenia to the ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh under Azerbaijan. Armenia claims that such checkpoints violate the agreement, which ends intense fighting between the countries in 2020.