The 2010 Mardakert clashes were a series of violations of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War ceasefire. They took place across the line of contact dividing Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian military forces of the unrecognized but de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Both sides accused the other of violating the ceasefire regime. These were the worst violations of the cease fire (which has been in place since 1994) in two years and left Armenian forces with the heaviest casualties since the Mardakert clashes of March 2008. June incident The incident occurred near the village of Chayli, located in the province of Mardakert/Tartar in Nagorno-Karabakh on June 18–19. According to the Defense Ministry of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Armenian forces along the line of contact came under surprise attack by a 20-man Azerbaijani reconnaissance or sabotage unit at about 11:30 PM on June 18. The Azeri forces killed four Armenian soldiers and an Azerbaijani warrant officer were killed, and four Armenians were wounded, one critically. According to the NKR Defense Ministry, the body of Azerbaijani Warrant Officer Mubariz Ibrahimov was left on the Armenian side of the contact line, as the rest of his unit retreated. Armenian forces retaliated the next day by launching an attack near Fizuli on June 20–21, killing one Azerbaijani serviceman. Azerbaijani forces claimed to have repelled the attack and inflicted further casualties on the Armenians. Military analysis Richard Giragosian, the director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies and a former defense analyst for Jane's, described the intrusion as "either a test on Armenian response or a sign of lack of command and discipline in the Azerbaijani military." He described it as "more professional and more deadly than previous such incursions" and had been planned days in advance. The fact that the attack began with an Azerbaijani sniper inflicting a fatal head wound on an Armenian soldier was further evidence of this, he said. Reaction Armenia President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan called the skirmish an "Azeri provocation," which took place hours after he had met his counterpart, Ilham Aliyev for peace talks regarding the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan Officials in Azerbaijan dismissed the Armenians' claim. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said it was the Armenians who had fired at its forces using automatic rifles and machine guns. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov stated that the skirmish was a "direct consequence of Armenia's failure to withdraw