More civilian deaths as conflict simmers on
BAKU/YEREVAN: Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other of killing civilians by shelling cities in and around NagornoKarabakh yesterday, in an escalation of a monthlong conflict that has defied three ceasefires.
Azerbaijan said 21 people were killed when Armenian shells hit the town of Barda, northeast of NagornoKarabakh. Armenianbacked officials in NagornoKarabakh said Azeri shells had fallen on the enclave’s two largest cities, killing one person.
Both sides denied each other’s claims.
The worst fighting in the South Caucasus for nearly 30 years has raised fears of a wider war that could suck in Russia and Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan. It also poses a threat to pipelines carrying oil and gas from Azerbaijan to world markets.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had witnessed shelling in urban areas on both sides. It said a volunteer from the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society had been killed and two others injured.
“These latest exchanges signal that the NagornoKarabakh conflict risks spiralling out of control,” Martin Schuepp, the ICRC’s Eurasia regional director, said in a statement. “Civilian lives are being lost at an alarming rate.”
NagornoKarabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but is populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians. About 30,000 people were killed in a 199194 war in the region.
The prosecutor general of Azerbaijan said 21 people had been killed and 70 wounded in Barda.
The Emergency and Rescue Service of ethnic Armeniancontrolled NagornoKarabakh said shells had fallen on Stepanakert, the enclave’s largest city. It said a civilian had been killed and two wounded by shelling in another nearby city, Shushi.
Armenia’s defence ministry also said a maternity hospital in Stepanakert had been hit. There were no reports of casualties.
Armenia’s defence ministry also confirmed yesterday Azerbaijan had seized the strategic town of Gubadli between the enclave and the Iranian border, an apparent military gain that could make a diplomatic solution more difficult.
Azerbaijan rejects any solution that would leave Armenians in control of the enclave, which it considers to be illegally occupied. — Reuters