YEREVAN: Twenty-six separatist fighters were killed in clashes with Azerbaijani troops late Monday in Azerbaijanthe Nagorny break Karabakh region, the rebels‘the Defense Ministry said, bringing the number of military deaths to 84.
World leaders have urged a halt fighting after the worst escalation since 2016 raised the specter of a new war between former Soviet rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The fierce fighting continued throughout the day Monday, officials in Baku and Yerevan said.
On Monday night, Azerbaijani forces launched a “massive offensive in the southern and northeastern sectors of the Karabakh front line,” said Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan.
“Twenty-six servicemen from the Karabakh Defense Army were killed” in action, the Karabakh Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday night.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been mired in a territorial dispute since the 1990s, when Karabakh declared independence after a war that claimed 30,000 lives.
No country recognizes the independence of Karabakh, not even Armenia, and the international community still considers it part of Azerbaijan.
The total death toll rose to 95, including 11 civilian deaths: nine in Azerbaijan and two on the Armenian side.
Azerbaijan has yet to release information on military casualties since the last clash broke out.
The struggle between Muslim Azerbaijan and predominantly Christian Armenia could involve regional actors, Russia and Turkey.
Russia, which has a military alliance with Armenia, sells sophisticated weapons worth billions of dollars to both Baku and Yerevan.
Armenia has accused Turkey, which backs Turkish-speaking Azerbaijan, of meddling in the conflict.
Talks to resolve one of the worst conflicts to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 largely stalled in 1994 when a ceasefire was agreed.
France, Russia and the United States have mediated peace efforts such as the “Minsk Group,” but the last big push for a peace deal collapsed in 2010.
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