Nearly 100 killed in Armenia-Azerbaijan border clashes

YEREVAN: Armenia and Azerbaijan reported nearly 100 troop deaths Tuesday in their worst fighting since a 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The last wave of fighting over Azerbaijan s tense Armenian-populated enclave ended in a fragile truce brokered by Russia.

But on Tuesday, the defence ministry in Baku said “50 Azerbaijani servicemen died as a result of Armenia s large-scale provocation,” while Armenia earlier reported the deaths of at least 49 of its soldiers.

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of violating the ceasefire after a night of clashes that renewed fears of another all-out conflict between the historic foes.

Russia said it had reached a ceasefire between the warring parties that brought several hours of relative calm, but Azerbaijan later accused Armenian forces of “intensely” violating the agreement.

“Despite the declaration of a ceasefire since 09:00 (Moscow time, 0600 GMT), Armenia is intensively violating the ceasefire along the border by using artillery and other heavy weapons,” Baku s military said.

Armenia appealed to world leaders for help after the fighting broke out, accusing Azerbaijan of trying to advance on its territory.

Read more: Maulana Masood Azhar is not in Afghanistan but in Pakistaan: Taliban

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the leaders of both countries Tuesday, with his spokesman saying Washington would “push for an immediate halt to fighting and a peace settlement” between the neighbours.

French President Emmanuel Macron called his Azerbaijan counterpart Ilham Aliyev Tuesday to express “great concern” and urge a “return to respecting the ceasefire”.

He also called for intensified negotiations and offered to contribute along with the European Union, the Elysee said.

The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had earlier spoken with Macron, as well as calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Blinken to demand a response to “Azerbaijan s aggressive acts”.

Tuesday s escalation came as Yerevan s closest ally Moscow — which deployed thousands of peacekeepers in the region after the 2020 war — is distracted by its six-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

Armenia’s defence ministry said clashes had subsided after the ceasefire but that the situation on the border was still “extremely tense”.