Civilians under fire as death toll mounts

Families from the city of

Martuni, in NagornoKarabakh, stay at a guest house in Goris, Armenia, yesterday after leaving to escape the ongoing war as Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to trade attacks in and around the contested territory of NagornoKarabakh.

Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other yesterday of attacking civilian areas and said the death toll was rising from the deadliest fighting in the South Caucasus region for more than 25 years.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg added his voice to calls for an immediate end to the clashes over NagornoKarabakh, a mountain enclave that belongs to Azerbaijan under international law but is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.

But prospects for a ceasefire appeared remote after fighting intensified at the weekend, with hundreds killed in clashes involving artillery, tanks and fighter planes since September 27.

Azerbaijan said Azeri cities outside NagornoKarabakh had been struck, taking the fighting closer to territory from which pipelines carry Azeri gas and oil to Europe.

In an interview shown by Turkey’s state broadcaster, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said Armenia must withdraw its troops from NagornoKarabakh and surrounding Azeri territories for military action to stop.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan showed no sign of backing down. In comments on Facebook yesterday, he called on servicemen demobilised last year to volunteer to fight.