Armenia-Azerbaijan clashes kill at least 16, undermine regional stability
(VOVWORLD) - At least 16 military members and several civilians were killed on Sunday in the heaviest clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 2016, re-igniting concern about stability in the South Caucasus, a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets.
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 A still image from a video released on Sep 27, 2020, by the Armenian Defence Ministry shows what is said to be Azerbaijani armoured vehicles.
(Photo: Defence Ministry of Armenia/Handout via REUTERS)
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The clashes between the two former Soviet republics, which fought a war in the 1990s, were the latest flare-up of a long-running conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region that is inside Azerbaijan but is run by ethnic Armenians.
Nagorno-Karabakh said 16 of its servicemen had been killed and more than 100 wounded after Azerbaijan launched an air and artillery attack early on Sunday. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh declared martial law and mobilised the male population.
Azerbaijan, which also declared martial law, said its forces responded to Armenian shelling and that five members of one family had been killed by Armenian shelling.