Azerbaijan, Armenia report shelling of cities despite truce

AP

Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of attacking large cities overnight in violation of the cease-fire deal brokered by Russia that seeks to end the worst outbreak of hostilities in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani authorities said Sunday that nine civilians have been killed and over 30 wounded after Armenian forces fired missiles overnight on Ganja, Azerbaijan's second-largest city, and hit a residential building. According to Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's office, the city of Mingachevir also came under missile attacks early Sunday.

Nagorno-Karabakh's military officials on Sunday denied attacking Ganja and said the territory's army is observing the cease-fire. They added that Azerbaijani forces shelled Stepanakert, the region's capital, and other towns during the night in violation of the truce.

The recent bout of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces started Sept. 27 and left hundreds of people dead in the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since a separatist war there ended in 1994. The region lies in Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia.

The cease-fire deal was announced in early Saturday, after 10 hours of talks in the Russian capital sponsored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and took effect at noon Saturday. The deal stipulated that the cease-fire should pave the way for talks on settling the conflict.

If the truce had held, it would mark a major diplomatic coup for Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but also cultivated warm ties with Azerbaijan.

However, minutes after the cease-fire took force, both sides accused each other of continuing attacks in violation of the deal.

The situation in the region was “relatively calm” on Sunday morning, according to Nagorno-Karabakh leader Arayik Harutyunyan, with only minor hostilities along the frontline. But it was unclear whether the calm would last, he said.

“There is no shelling of our towns and villages. At the frontline, there is some shooting with the use of artillery. There are some skirmishes on the border,” Harutyunyan said. “Since the morning it seems calm, but within minutes the situation can change.”