Dispute over truce violations ensues
YEREVAN, ARMENIA >> Despite a second attempt at a cease-fire, Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations Sunday of violating the new truce in their destructive conflict over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The latest truce, which was announced Saturday and took force at midnight, was the second attempt to establish a cease-fire since heavy fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh on Sept. 27. The fighting and shelling has killed hundreds of people — both combatants and civilians — and marks the biggest escalation of a decades- old conflict over the region in more than a quarter-century.
The fighting, involving heavy artillery, rockets and drones, has continued despite repeated calls for cessation of hostilities coming from around the globe. It also raises the specter of a wider conflict that could draw in Russia and Turkey and threaten Caspian Sea energy exports.
Armenian military officials Sunday reported artillery shelling and missile strikes by Azerbaijani forces in the conflict zone overnight. In the morning, “the enemy launched an attack in the southern direction,” and there were “casualties and wounded on both sides,” Armenian Defense Ministr y spokeswoman Shushan Stepanian said.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry maintained that Armenian forces used mortars and artillery in the conflict zone overnight despite the cease-fire and in the morning attempted attacks in several directions. The ministry accused Armenia of using large- caliber weapons to attack the positions of the Azerbaijani army in two regions north of NagornoKarabakh along the border, a claim Armenian military officials denied.
The Azerbaijani military also said it downed an Armenian Su-25 warplane “attempting to inflict airstrikes on the positions of the Azerbaijan army in the Jabrayil direction,” but Stepanian dismissed the statement as untrue.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.
According to NagornoKarabakh officials, 673 of their servicemen have been killed in the renewed fighting. Azerbaijan hasn’t disclosed its military losses, but says 60 civilians have died so far and 270 have been wounded.
Turkey ha s publicly backed oil-rich Azerbaijan in the conflict and vowed to help it reclaim its territory.
Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but has cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan, hosted top diplomats from both countries last week for more than 10 hours of talks that ended with the initial ceasefire agreement. But the deal frayed immediately after the truce took effect Saturday, with both sides blaming each other for breaching it.