Baku // Heavy fighting erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Saturday, with claims of scores of soldiers killed on both sides.
Azerbaijan said 12 of its soldiers were killed and claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on the Armenian forces.
“Twelve Azeri servicemen were killed in action and a helicopter was shot down by Armenian forces,” Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said.
It said more than 100 Armenian forces were killed or wounded and that six tanks and 15 artillery positions were destroyed.
Armenia in turn claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on Azerbaijani forces, but did not immediately give figures.
The fighting was one of the worst outbreaks since the 1994 end of full-scale war over the region. Since 1994, mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military.
Armenian forces also occupy several areas outside Nagorno-Karabakh proper. The sides are separated by a demilitarized buffer zone, but small clashes have broken out frequently.
Each side blamed the other for Saturday’s escalation.
David Babayan, a spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist president, said a boy of about 12 was killed and two other children were wounded in a Grad missile barrage by Azerbaijani forces.
Russian president Vladimir Putin urged all sides to cease firing and “show restraint”, and Russia’s foreign and defence ministers contacted their Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts in hopes of stabilising the situation.
“The situation along the entire length of the line of opposition between Karabakhi and Azerbaijani armed forces continues to be extremely difficult,” Armenian defence ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said.
Years of negotiations under the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe have brought little progress in resolving the territorial dispute.
Armenian forces also occupy several areas outside Nagorno-Karabakh. The sides are separated by a demilitarized buffer zone, but both claim frequent violations by the other.
The Armenian defence ministry said Azerbaijan used aircraft, tanks and artillery to try to make inroads into Nagorno-Karabkh and that “Azerbaijani authorities bear all responsibility for the unprecedentedly supercharged situation”.
The Azerbaijani defense ministry said the fighting began when Armenian forces fired mortars and large-calibre artillery shells across the front line.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse