Armenia, Azerbaijan try again on cease-fire

South Caucasus neighbors pressured by Moscow after initial truce collapsed

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Armenia and Azerbaijan on Saturday announced a new cease-fire in their conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh starting at midnight, a move that comes a week after a Russia-brokered truce frayed immediately after it took force.

The new agreement was announced following Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s calls with his counterparts from the two nations, in which he strongly urged them to abide by the Moscow deal. There were no immediate claims of violations after the new truce took effect.

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. The latest fighting that began Sept. 27 has involved heavy artillery, rockets and drones, killing hundreds in the largest escalation of hostilities between the South Caucasus neighbors in more than a quarter-century.

Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but has cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan, hosted top diplomats from both countries for more than 10 hours of talks that ended with the initial cease-fire agreement. But the deal frayed as soon as the truce took effect Oct. 10, with both sides blaming each other for breaching it.

The full-scale fighting continued to rage through the week.

In a new escalation, Azerbaijan on Saturday accused Armenia of striking its second-largest city with a ballistic missile that killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 50.

The Armenian Defense Ministry denied launching the strike, but the separatist authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh put out a statement listing alleged “legitimate” military facilities in the city of Ganja, although they stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attack.

Azerbaijani officials said the Soviet-made Scud missile destroyed or damaged about 20 residential buildings in Ganja overnight, and emergency workers spent hours searching in the rubble for victims and survivors.

Scud missiles date back to the 1960s and carry a big load of explosives but are known for their lack of precision.

In a televised address to the nation, Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, denounced the missile strike as a war crime and warned the leadership of Armenia that it would face responsibility.

“Azerbaijan will give its response and it will do so exclusively on the battlefield,” Aliyev said.

While authorities in Azerbaijan and Armenia have denied targeting civilians, residential areas have increasingly come under shelling amid the hostilities.

Stepanakert, the regional capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, came under intense shelling overnight, leaving three civilians wounded, according to separatist authorities.

Aliyev announced that Azerbaijani forces have taken the town of Fizuli and seven villages around it, gaining a “strategic edge.”

Azerbaijani authorities said 60 civilians have been killed and 270 have been wounded since Sept. 27, but they haven’t revealed military losses. Separatist authorities said over 600 Nagorno-Karabakh soldiers and 36 civilians have been killed.

Azerbaijan has insisted it has the right to reclaim its land by force after efforts by the socalled Minsk group of international mediators that comprises Russia, the United States and France failed to yield any progress after nearly three decades.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar spoke on the phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, congratulating the country on “liberating Fizuli from the occupation” and downing Armenian jets.

(AP) Lida Sarksyan (left) is comforted by a neighbor Saturday near the wreckage of her home, which was destroyed by Azerbaijani artillery fire in Stepanakert in the Nagorno-Karabakh separatist region.