Casualties mount in Karabakh fighting, sides resist pressure to talk

Even though casualties are rising in fighting between Republic of Armenia and Republic of Azerbaijan in Karabakh, the two sides are resisting pressure to start talks to end the latest round of conflagrations over the disputed South Caucasus region.

Four days after a decades-long territorial dispute prompted the heaviest fighting between Azerbaijan’s military and Armenian-backed forces in years, Yerevan and Baku continue to accuse one another of being responsible for the war.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Armenia continued shelling the city of Terter, located along the contact line in Karabakh.

“Units of the Armenian Armed Forces have been conducting artillery shelling of the city of Terter,” it said. “According to preliminary information, some damage was done to civilian infrastructure, there are injuries.”

Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office said at least 12 civilians had been killed and 35 others injured in Armenian attacks since the fighting broke out on Sunday.

“To date, as a result of shelling attacks, carried out by Armenian forces with the use of heavy weaponry and targeting densely populated civilian areas, 12 civilians have been killed and 35 injured," it said.

The office said 66 houses and eight other civilian facilities had also been damaged in the attacks.

Armenia, for its part, said Azerbaijani forces had destroyed a number of settlements in Karabakh, including in its administrative center, Stepanakert.

Since the violence broke out, both sides have imposed martial law and announced mobilizations of armed forces.

Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure is increasing on both sides to hold negotiations and peacefully resolve the conflict, which has prompted fears of an all-out war in the South Caucasus region — a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets.

SS