Karabakh conflict: Armenia, Azerbaijan continue to trade fire, blame

Fighting between Azeri and Armenian forces over the disputed Karabakh territory is continuing despite a recent ceasefire, with the two sides repeatedly accusing each other of violating the truce.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Wednesday that Azerbaijani forces had hit two Armenian military sites situated on Armenian territory. It said Armenia reserved the right to attack any military facility on Azerbaijani territory.

Republic of Azerbaijan had claimed earlier on Wednesday that it had hit two missile launch sites in Armenia that were being used as a base to target civilian areas.

The Armenian Defense Ministry rejected the claim that they were being used to target civilians.

“Those claims by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan cannot have any grounds. In fact, the military and political leadership of that country allowed itself to take aim at equipment located on the territory of the Republic of Armenia carrying out combat duty, only on the basis of assumptions,” the ministry said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a humanitarian ceasefire on Saturday following 11 hours of Russian-mediated talks in Moscow. The agreement, which aimed to allow an exchange of detainees and the collection of bodies from the battlefield, fell apart on Monday due to reported Armenian shelling of Azerbaijan’s second-largest city of Ganja.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said the shellfire had left at least nine people dead and 33 others wounded, including children, less than 24 hours after the halt to fighting was supposed to take effect.

Russia urges Armenia, Azerbaijan to respect truce

Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has urged the two counties to observe the recent ceasefire in the disputed Karabakh region.

Shoigu made the remark in telephone calls with his Armenian and Azeri counterparts.

The two Caucasus rivals have repeatedly accused each other of serious truce violations and crimes against civilians.

Azerbaijan to continue military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh

Separately on Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said his country was continuing a military operation to free territory in Karabakh.

For years, the two neighbors have been locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s breakaway, mainly ethnic Armenian region of Karabakh. A ceasefire agreed in 1994 failed to end the conflict.

The recent clashes, the worst in decades, erupted on September 27, with each side accusing the other of instigating the fighting.

SS