'Five people in one family killed by Armenia's forces': Azerbaijan raises shocking claim amid Nagorno-Karabakh stand-off

Azerbaijan`s general prosecution office said on Sunday that five people from one family have been killed by the shelling from Armenia`s forces, the first civilian casualties from Baku in the latest flair up over the breakaway province of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Clashes erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday over the volatile Nagorno-Karabakh region, reigniting concern about instability in the South Caucasus, a corridor for pipelines transporting oil and gas to world markets.

The breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus said on Sunday 16 of its servicemen had been killed and more than 100 wounded in clashes with Azeri forces.

Azerbaijan reported that 19 civilians had been wounded in the clashes over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region which is inside Azerbaijan but is run by ethnic Armenians.

The long-running conflict worries Western and regional countries in part because it could cause instability in the South Caucasus, which serves as a corridor for pipelines transporting oil and gas to world markets.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on the international community to ensure Turkey, which traditionally supports Azerbaijan, does not involve itself in the conflict.

Turkey sharply criticised Armenia over the new clashes, saying Yerevan was an obstacle to peace and vowing to continue its support for Baku.

Armenia declared martial law and mobilised its male population on Sunday after clashes with Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region in which sources on both sides reported fatalities. The region's president Arayik Harutyunyan also introduced martial law and total mobilization of its male population after the flare-up in the Azeri-Armenian conflict 

Tensions have increased between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian region inside Azerbaijan which declared independence in 1991. The two countries had carried out an air and artillery attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, but Azerbaijan said it had responded to Armenian shelling.

Armenian human right activists said two civilians, a woman and a child, had been killed by Azeri shelling. Baku said an unspecified number of Azeri civilians had been killed and six wounded, and Nagorno-Karabakh said 10 of its military staff had been killed. The reports could not be independently confirmed.

Russia’s foreign ministry, a mediator in decades of conflict between majority Christian Armenia and mainly Muslim Azerbaijan, urged both sides to cease fire immediately and hold talks.

The two countries have long been at odds over Nagorno-Karabakh, which broke away from Azerbaijan in a conflict that broke out as the Soviet Union collapsed.

Though a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia frequently accuse each other of attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate Azeri-Armenian frontier.

The conflict has worried Western and regional countries in part because it could cause instability in the South Caucasus, which serves as a corridor for pipelines transporting oil and gas to world markets.

FREQUENT SKIRMISHES

Armenia’s defence ministry said its troops had destroyed three tanks and shot down two helicopters and three unmanned aerial vehicles in response to an attack on civilian targets including Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Stepanakert.

“Our response will be proportionate, and the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan bears full responsibility for the situation,” the ministry said in a statement echoed by the foreign ministry.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Twitter: “We stay strong next to our army to protect our motherland from Azeri invasion.”

Azerbaijan denied the Armenian defence ministry statement, saying it had “complete advantage over the enemy on the front”, and accused Armenian forces of launching “deliberate and targeted” attacks along the front line.

“We defend our territory, our cause is right!” Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, said in an address to the nation.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said some civilians had been killed but gave no death toll.

At least 200 people were killed in a flare-of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in April 2016. There are frequent skirmishes and at least 16 were reported killed in clashes in July.

(With Reuters inputs)