Nagorno-Karabakh war goes on despite mediation by US

STEPANAKERT ( NAGORNO-KARABAKH) — Rocket and artillery barrage hit residential areas in NagornoKarabakh on Saturday hours after the United States hosted top diplomats from Armenia and Azerbaijan for talks on settling their decades-long conflict over the region.

The heavy shelling forced residents of Stepanakert, the regional capital of NagornoKarabakh, into shelters, as emergency teams rushed to extinguish fires. Local officials said the city was struck with Azerbaijan’s Smerch long-range multiple rocket systems, a devastating Sovietdesigned weapon intended to ravage wide areas with explosives and cluster munitions.

Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said other towns in the region were also targeted by Azerbaijani artillery fire. There was no immediate information about casualties.

Officials in Azerbaijan claimed that the town of Terter and areas in the Gubadli region came under Armenian shelling on Saturday, killing a teenager. They also said 13-year-old boy died Saturday of wounds from an earlier shelling of Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second-largest city.

After two failed attempts by Russia to broker a truce, the US waded onto the scene on Friday, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hosting the Armenian and Azerbaijan foreign ministers for separate talks. “Both must implement a ceasefire and return to substantive negotiations,” Pompeo said in a tweet after the negotiations.

Those words were ignored on the ground. “Just now a bomb exploded in my garden,” Georgiy, a resident of Stepanakert said. —

Both must implement a ceasefire and return to substantive negotiations. mike pompeo Secretary of State