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The region’s Defense Ministry registers more casualties, as Armenia and Azerbaijan blame each other for the ceasefire violations.
- Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating the newly agreed truce.
- The Defense Ministry of the Nagorno-Karabakh region said the death toll among its military has risen to 673.
- Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire, which came into effect at midnight on Sunday (20:00 GMT on Saturday), following mediation by the co-chairs of the Minsk Group.
Sunday October 18
09:10 GMT – Armenia suffers heavy losses on the front line, Azeri army says
Armenia suffered heavy losses as Azerbaijan advanced along the battlefront line, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.
Refuting claims of heavy losses by Azerbaijan, the ministry said the Azerbaijani army was exercising “operational superiority across the front,” the ministry statement said.
Clashes broke out between the two countries on September 27 and Armenia has since continued its attacks against Azerbaijani civilians and forces, including violating a humanitarian ceasefire that took effect last week.
07:50 GMT – ‘Armenian forces seriously violated the agreement’
Azerbaijan accused Armenian forces of violating the ceasefire in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, a few hours after it took effect at midnight.
“The Armenian forces seriously violated another agreement,” the Defense Ministry in Baku said in a statement, accusing them of firing artillery and mortars in various directions and launching morning strikes along the front line.
Reporting from Ujar in Azerbaijan, Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid said: “The Azeris are pointing the finger at Armenia, saying that although Armenia has accepted the ceasefire, it has tried to regain land it lost to Azerbaijan. [during the fighting]. “
Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of violating the new truce in Nagorno-Karabakh [File: AP]07:31 GMT – Military death toll rises in Nagorno-Karabakh
The Nagorno-Karabakh region defense ministry said on Sunday it had recorded another 40 casualties among its military, bringing the military death toll to 673 since fighting broke out with Azerbaijani forces on September 27.
The fighting has reached its worst level since the 1990s, when some 30,000 people died.
Relatives of people who died when a rocket hit their home mourn during their funeral in the city of Ganja, Azerbaijan. [Umit Bektas/Reuters]06:40 GMT – Armenia and Azerbaijan commercially accuse of violating the new ceasefire agreement
Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating a new humanitarian ceasefire in the fight for the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave controlled by ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan.
Shushan Stepanyan, a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, said on Twitter that Azerbaijan fired artillery shells and rockets in the early hours of Sunday.
Speaking from Yerevan, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith said the truce was just a humanitarian truce designed for both sides to exchange bodies and prisoners of war.
“Armenia particularly needs this ceasefire to function because of the enormous internal pressure its leadership is under,” Smith said, explaining that the pressure was linked due to the large number of people and lands it had lost to Azerbaijan.
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