DHAKA: A new wave of fighting broke out in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Saturday, killing dozens and drawing international calls for an immediate ceasefire to stop violence spreading in the South Caucasus.

Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies inside Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians, has run its own affairs with heavy military and financial backing from Armenia since a separatist war ended in 1994.

The Azeri defense ministry said on Saturday the army had ‘liberated strategic heights and settlements’ in the region, reports irishtimes.com.

‘Six Armenian tanks were destroyed (and) more than 100 Armenian servicemen were killed and injured,’ it said in a statement, saying 12 Azeri servicemen had also been killed.

Armenia’s government denied the Azeri report on the number of casualties. Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan told a State Security Council meeting about 18 were killed and 35 injured. It was not immediately clear if the death toll included soldiers only.

Earlier on Saturday, Nagorno-Karabakh’s military said Armenian anti-aircraft forces had downed an Azeri helicopter. Baku admitted that its Mi-24 helicopter was shot down.

Both sides also reported civilian casualties and accused each other of violating a 1994 ceasefire. Similar violence was reported last month.

BDST: 1248 HRS, APR 03, 2016
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