Karabakh clashes leave 2 soldiers killed

Two soldiers have been killed in clashes between Azeri forces and Armenian-backed Nagorno-Karabakh separatists on the disengagement line.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry confirmed that two of their soldiers were killed and another one was wounded in the clashes on Saturday, Itar-Tass reported.

Reports from Yerevan say one Armenian was also wounded in the exchange of fire.

Both sides accuse the other of launching attacks. Armenia’s Foreign Ministry has blamed Azerbaijan for what it described as provocations aimed at disrupting talks intended to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

The Azeri Defense Ministry, however, said its forces were repelling an Armenian attack.

This is the second serious armed incident on the disengagement line that separates Armenian and Azerbaijani forces this week.

Two Azerbaijani and three Armenian army servicemen were killed in a shootout on August 31.

The mountainous area is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan’s territory but is controlled by ethnic Armenians who, backed by the Yerevan government, fought a six-year separatist war against the central government in Baku that began in 1988.

The conflict left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million displaced before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in 1994. However, a peace accord has never been signed.