Armenian and Azerbaijani forces accused each other of attacks on their territory Tuesday, as fighting over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh continued for a third straight day following the reigniting of a decades-old conflict.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said Armenian forces shelled the Dashkesan region in Azerbaijan, while Armenian officials said Azeri forces opened fire on a military unit in the Armenian town, setting a bus on fire and killing one civilian.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry “completely” denied reports of shelling the Dashkesan region and said in a statement that with those reports Azerbaijan was laying the groundwork for “expanding the geography of hostilities, including the aggression against the Republic of Armenia.”
The previous two days of fighting killed dozens and left scores wounded. The Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry reported 84 servicemen killed so far. Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, said Tuesday that 10 civilians were killed on its side, but he didn’t offer any details on the country’s military casualties.
The heavy fighting broke out Sunday in Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian government since 1994 at the end of a separatist war.
