Reuters :
Clashes erupted between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops early on Tuesday in a resumption of decades-old hostilities linked to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan, which re-established full control over the territory in a six-week conflict in 2020, acknowledged casualties among its forces, according to reports published by Reuters.
In a speech to Armenia’s parliament, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said 49 Armenian service personnel died during overnight clashes. Pashinyan said Baku had attacked Armenia’s positions overnight and that fighting was ongoing.
Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of attacking Armenian towns because it did not want to negotiate over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave that is inside Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.
“The intensity of hostilities has decreased but attacks on one or two fronts from Azerbaijan continue,” Pashinyan said in a speech to parliament, according to Russian media.
Azerbaijan, which accused Armenia of carrying intelligence activity along the border and moving weapons, said its military positions came under attack by Armenia.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region of the South Caucasus, is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but the local ethnic Armenian residents reject Baku’s sovereignty over the region. It has been the source of fierce tensions between the two countries for decades.
Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed a ceasefire early on Monday to halt a flare-up in hostilities over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, but it fell apart minutes later, Azerbaijani media said.
