Two individuals were injured and another apprehended during an apparent armed assault on a police station in Yerevan on Sunday.
According to Armenian police reports, the assailants detonated a hand grenade while attempting to breach the police headquarters of the city’s northern Nor Nork district. Two individuals sustained injuries from the explosion and were subsequently hospitalized, while the third remained outside the building, threatening to deploy another grenade, stated police spokesperson Narek Sargsian during a press briefing.
Sargsian disclosed that the individual was “neutralized” by security personnel “without the use of firearms” following a two-hour standoff. An anti-terror unit from Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) was observed arriving at the scene during the confrontation.
Subsequently, the Investigative Committee announced the initiation of a criminal investigation into “terrorism.” However, neither the committee nor the police provided any insight into the motives of the attackers.
Earlier in the day, law enforcement detained 49 members of a group identified as Combat Brotherhood, who were reportedly en route to visit a border area in northern Tavush province. This particular region has garnered significant attention due to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s intentions to cede it to Azerbaijan, leading to widespread criticism from political opponents, dissenters, and local inhabitants. All detainees were reportedly released several hours later. Combat Brotherhood, which vehemently opposes the territorial concession, promptly disassociated itself from the Nor Nork police incident.
In another development, the Yerevan daily Hraparak reported that all three assailants are affiliated with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a pro-Western and nationalist fringe group critical of Pashinyan. A senior NDA member revealed that two of the attackers are veterans of the 2020 conflict with Azerbaijan, while the third individual lost a son during the six-week hostilities.
NDA leaders maintain close associations with incarcerated members of an armed faction that besieged another Armenian police station in 2016, demanding the resignation of then-President Serzh Sarkisian. Following a two-week standoff with security forces, during which three police officers lost their lives, the group of approximately three dozen gunmen surrendered their weapons.
