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According to Armenia, Azerbaijani ground forces launched a large-scale attack in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict region on Saturday. Three Azerbaijani fighter jets were shot down. Azerbaijan denied the shooting down of the planes and announced again that the Armenian forces had bombed the city of Terter and several villages on its own territory.
For almost a week, the two warring states have been embroiled in intense fighting in the area. Hundreds of people are said to have died. Shooting was also said to have been fired again on Saturday in Stepanakert, the capital of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Azerbaijani artillery fire destroyed several buildings here on Friday.
Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan, but is controlled by Armenia. Christian Armenia receives help from Russia, Muslim Azerbaijan is allied with Turkey. Both parties to the conflict accuse each other of sending mercenaries to battle in the region.
International efforts to achieve a ceasefire have so far failed. On Thursday, Russia, France and the United States offered to mediate the conflict and called for a ceasefire. Azerbaijan rejected the proposal and asked Armenia to first withdraw its troops from the disputed region.
