Armenia’s defence ministry said the two Indians were caught in cross-border gunfire. (Representational image: @ToroseanAram/Twitter)
Armenia’s healthcare ministry said the two Indian nationals were being treated at a regional hospital and their condition was moderate. They were involved in the construction of a metallurgical plant being built through foreign investment
Two Indian nationals were injured in Azerbaijani shootings at Yeraskh village in Armenia’s Ararat province. They were involved in the construction of a metallurgical plant. Both the men were being treated at a regional hospital and their condition was moderate, said the country’s health ministry.
Armenia’s defence ministry identified the two Indian citizens as Muhammad Asif and Mirhasan Sahajan. “Today, two Indian citizens Muhammad Asif and Mirhasan Sahajan, who were involved in the construction works of the plant, were wounded in the wake of the Azerbaijani fire in the direction of the metallurgical plant being built with the measures of foreign investments in Yeraskh,” the ministry said on Twitter.
According to the healthcare ministry, the two are being treated at a regional hospital for injuries that are not life threatening. “The surgeries of the two foreigners involved in the construction works of the Yeraskh metallurgical plant, who were wounded by the shots fired by the Azerbaijani side, have been completed. The surgeries were successful. Their health condition is assessed as moderate,” the ministry said.
The men reportedly underwent surgeries at the Ararat city hospital. According to reports in the local media, while one of them was wounded in the chest, the other received injuries on the shoulder.
The defence ministry said the attack took place on Wednesday morning (11.45 am local time). The duo was reportedly working at the construction site of a metallurgical plant in Yeraskh when they were caught in cross-border gunfire, said ministry spokesperson Aram Torosyan.
Yeraskh is a small village on Armenia’s western border with the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan. A civilian car and another facility were damaged in the firing by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the direction of Yeraskh.
In recent weeks, there has been a renewed escalation in tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as both sides are regularly accusing each other of violating the ceasefire agreement established in 2020. Border areas frequently witness violent incidents, leading to casualties of security personnel and people living in the areas. It is, however, rare for foreign nationals to be harmed along the unmarked border.
Armenia’s economy minister Vahan Kerobyan had earlier said the plant, spanning across an area of 16,500 sqm, is being built with a $70-million investment. According to reports, an American businessman of Indian origin, Bobby Singh Kang, holds a 50 percent stake in the company.
The latest tensions have been sparked by the construction of the steel plant. Azerbaijan said the project will pose a threat to the environmental well-being of the region and violates a UN convention aimed at regulating the potential for cross-border environmental harm.
Armenia’s environment ministry, however, has dismissed these allegations as unfounded considering them to be baseless with the sole intention of impeding the country’s economic progress.
