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Armenia says it shot down two Azerbaijani helicopters and destroyed three tanks in fighting around the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
The defense ministry of the separatist region also claimed that it had destroyed four Azerbaijani helicopters, 15 drones and 10 tanks during the clashes early Sunday morning.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said the latest incident started with an Azerbaijani attack, while Azerbaijan said that the Armenian side attacked first and that they had launched a counteroffensive.
Armenian artillery near the Nagorno-Karabakh border. Stock Image
Both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilization. However, the Azerbaijani army said it was not necessary for them to do this as they are fully staffed.
The Armenian Defense Ministry has released video footage showing the attack on the vehicles, it says.
He said his troops had acted in response to an attack on civilian targets, including the Nagorno-Karabakh capital Stepanakert.
“Our response will be proportionate, and the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the situation,” he said in a statement.
Both parties have reported civilian deaths.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Twitter: “We stand strong with our army to protect our homeland from the Azeri invasion.”
Hikmet Hajiyev, senior adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, accused the Armenian forces of launching “deliberate and targeted” attacks.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said Armenia had targeted civilian settlements and military positions along the “line of contact,” a heavily mined no-man’s-land that separates Armenian-backed forces from Azerbaijani troops in the region.
He said that some civilians had died “as a result of the intensive bombing” of Armenia, and that Azerbaijan had taken retaliatory measures.
The ministry said that the Azerbaijani army launched a “counter-offensive operation across the entire front to suppress the combat activity of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the safety of the civilian population.”
Turkey has demanded a cessation of “hostilities” from Armenia, saying that it risks sinking the region “on fire”, while France has urged both sides to stop fighting and restart dialogue.
The two countries have long been at odds over the breakaway region, a conflict that has flared up again in recent months.
Nagorno-Karabakh declared its independence from Azerbaijan shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Although a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia frequently accuse each other of attacks around the area and along the separate border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
