YEREVAN/BAKU, March 3 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan, Gerai Dadashev) - The Armenian defense ministry said Thursday that Azerbaijani soldiers had opened fire on Armenian troops.

Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Sergei Shakhsuvaryan said that on Thursday night Azerbaijani troops were shooting at the Armenian stretch of Baganis-Idzhevan road.

He said no one was hurt among Armenian soldiers, and they did not open fire in return.

"It was Azerbaijan's third violation of the ceasefire regime within two days, where Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces are in close contact," Shakhsuvaryan said.

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Ilgar Verdiyev denied the allegation.

"We have never violated the ceasefire regime, and our response measures were always aimed to suppress gunfire started by the Armenian side," Verdiyev said.

The conflict between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region with a largely Armenian population, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988 and 1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded in 1994, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.