DUSHANBE, April 6, 2016, Asia-Plus – International media outlets report that military action halted after four days of fighting in Nagorny-Karabakh in which at least 64 people died.
Azerbaijan and Armenian separatist authorities in the disputed Nagorny-Karabakh region have reportedly reached an agreement to end four days of fierce fighting over the disputed territory.
“Military actions were halted as of 12pm local time on Tuesday,” Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said in a statement.
“An agreement to cease fire has been reached with Azerbaijan,” a Karabakh defense ministry spokesman told
AFP
. “An order was given to stop shooting.”
The death toll from both sides since the clashes erupted on Friday has reached at least 64, according to an
AFP
estimate based on official reports, the worst violence in decades over the disputed territory.
Both sides accused each other of starting the latest outbreak of violence. Azerbaijan claims to have captured several strategic locations in Armenian-controlled territory, in what would be the first change to the frontline since an inconclusive truce ended a war in 1994.
Meanwhile, the Minsk Group of the Russian, US and French ambassadors to the Organization of the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that has long mediated in Karabakh peace talks, was to meet in Vienna on Tuesday for talks seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic conflict between the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a region in Azerbaijan populated primarily by ethnic Armenians. It has its origins in the early 20th century, although the present conflict began in 1988 and escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s. Tensions and border skirmishes have continued in the region despite an official cease-fire signed in 1994.
