Armenia’s Cabinet of Ministers information center has reported that explosions were heard in the city.
YEREVAN, October 12.
/TASS/. Armenia’s Cabinet of Ministers information center has reported that
Stepanakert was shelled again by Azerbaijan’s armed forces on Sunday night.
"Stepanakert is
under fire again. Explosions are heard in the city," the statement said.
At the talks,
mediated by Russia and held in Moscow on October 9, Azerbaijan and Armenia had
agreed on a ceasefire. It came into effect at 12.00 local time on Saturday,
October 10 for humanitarian reasons, in order to trade detainees and recover
the bodies of those killed in fighting. However that very evening the opposing
sides again blamed each other of ceasefire violations and renewal of strikes.
Renewed clashes
between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles
raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced
flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization
efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them
civilians.
The conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before
the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke
out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its
withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994,
tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control
over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control
of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992
under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the
United States.
Source: ITAR-TASS
12-10-2020
