Armenia, Azerbaijan battle for 2nd day as death toll rises

Armenia and Azerbaijani forces kept fighting Monday over the disputed separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh after hostilities broke out the day before, with both sides blaming each other for resuming the deadly attacks that reportedly also wounded scores of people.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry claimed that Armenian forces started shelling the town of Tartar on Monday morning, while Armenian officials said the fighting continued throughout the night and Baku resumed “offensive actions” in the morning.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry told the Interfax news agency Monday that over 550 Armenian troops have been “destroyed (including those wounded)”, a claim that Armenian officials denied.

According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, 31 servicemen have been killed so far. On Sunday, the territory’s defense ministry also reported two civilian deaths — a woman and her grandson.

Some 200 people have been wounded in the fighting, the Armenian Defense Ministry said Monday, while Azerbaijani authorities said 26 civilians have been wounded on their side.

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The heavy fighting broke out on Sunday morning in the region that lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since 1994 at the end of a separatist war.

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It was not immediately clear what sparked the fighting, the heaviest since clashes in July killed 16 people from both sides.

Mostly mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh — a region around 4,400 square kilometers (1,700 square miles) or about the size of the U.S. state of Delaware — lies 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Armenian border. Local soldiers backed by Armenia also occupy some Azerbaijani territory outside the region.

The European Union on Monday urged both sides to halt the fighting and return to the negotiating table, following similar calls by Iran, Russia, France and the United States.

“We hope and we urge everyone to everything they can in order to prevent an all-out war from breaking out, because this is the last thing the region needs,” European Commission spokesman Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels. “There is no military solution to this conflict.”

In a joint statement with the United Kingdom released Monday, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the countries are “deeply concerned” by reports of large scale military action along the Line of Contact in the Nagorno-Karakbakh conflict zone.

“Reports of shelling of settlements and civilian casualties are deeply concerning,” the statement said. “We call for the immediate end of hostilities, respect for the ceasefire agreement, and the protection of civilians.”

The statement said any solution to this conflict must “disavow violence and involve a peaceful, negotiated resolution through the framework provided by the OSCE’s Minsk process.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh “is a cause for concern for Moscow and other countries.”

“We believe that the hostilities should be immediately ended,” Peskov told reporters, adding that the process of resolving the conflict between the two countries should shift into “a politico-diplomatic” dimension.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday accused Turkey, who sides with Azerbaijan in the conflict, of “supporting this aggression.”

The ministry said “Turkish military experts are fighting side by side with Azerbaijan, who are using Turkish weapons, including UAVs and warplanes.” The situation on the ground “clearly indicates” that people in Nagorno-Karabakh are fighting against “a Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance,” the statement read.

Both Armenia and Turkey on Monday accused each other of recruiting foreign mercenaries.

–With files from Global News