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Death toll rises in Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes ahead of talks Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists agree ceasefire over disputed territory
(35 minutes later)
Fighting raged between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh overnight in the run-up to talks aimed at quelling the disputed territory’s worst violence in decades. Azerbaijan and Armenian separatist authorities in the disputed Nagorny-Karabakh region have reached an agreement to end four days of fierce fighting over the disputed territory, Baku and Karabakh rebels said.
Sixteen Azeri soldiers and four civilians have been killed over the past two days, according to Azerbaijan’s defence ministry and the prosecutor-general’s office. “Military actions were halted as of 12pm local time (8am GMT) on Tuesday,” Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said in a statement.
“An agreement to cease fire has been reached with Azerbaijan,” a Karabakh defence ministry spokesman told AFP. “An order was given to stop shooting.”
An AFP photographer in the frontline Azeri town of Terter said both sides stopped shelling on Tuesday afternoon after a night of sporadic artillery fire.
The death toll from both sides since the clashes in the Caucasus erupted on Friday has reached at least 64, according to an AFP estimate based on official reports, the worst violence in decades over the disputed territory.
Both sides accused each other of starting the latest outbreak of violence. Azerbaijan claims to have captured several strategic locations in Armenian-controlled territory, in what would be the first change to the frontline since an inconclusive truce ended a war in 1994.
Related: Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict is a reminder of Europe's instabilityRelated: Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict is a reminder of Europe's instability
The death toll from both sides since the clashes in the Caucasus erupted on Friday is at least 64, according to an AFP estimate based on official reports. Meanwhile, the so-called Minsk Group of the US, French and Russian ambassadors to the Organisation of the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that has long mediated in Karabakh peace talks, was to meet in Vienna on Tuesday for talks seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
“Armenia continued firing at Azerbaijani army positions and civilian targets using large-calibre machine guns and 120-millimetre mortars,” the ministry said as clashes entered a fourth day.
The rebel defence ministry in Karabakh said that “Azerbaijan continued its aggression throughout the night. It used [a Russian-made] Smerch heavy multiple rocket launcher system at the southern sector of the front.”
Azerbaijan’s defence ministry later said that a ceasefire had been agreed with separatists and that it had come into force at noon local time (9am BST) on Tuesday.
The ministry said in a statement that the operations of Azerbaijani and Karabakh troops “have been stopped”.
Russia and the west have called for an end to the fighting. Mediators from Russia, the US and France will meet in Vienna on Tuesday under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Armenian-backed separatists seized control of the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region, a majority ethnic Armenian area in Azerbaijan, in an early 1990s war that claimed about 30,000 lives.Armenian-backed separatists seized control of the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region, a majority ethnic Armenian area in Azerbaijan, in an early 1990s war that claimed about 30,000 lives.
The sides have never signed a peace deal despite a 1994 ceasefire, and sporadic violence regularly claims the lives of soldiers on both sides, though the latest outbreak represents a serious escalation. The protagonists have never signed a peace deal despite a 1994 ceasefire, and sporadic violence regularly leads to the deaths of soldiers on both sides, though the latest outbreak represents a serious escalation in hostilities.
Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia’s entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the breakaway region by force.Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia’s entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the breakaway region by force.