Fighting erupts between Armenia, Azerbaijan; 18 killed

TIL Desk/World/ Yerevan (Armenia)/ Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces has erupted again over the disputed separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the territory’s defence ministry said 16 soldiers and two civilians have been killed and more than 100 others wounded.

Azerbaijan’s president, meanwhile, says his military has suffered losses, but gave no details. Armenia also claimed that four Azerbaijani helicopters were shot down and 33 Azerbaijani tanks and fighting vehicles were hit by artillery. Azerbaijan’s defence ministry rejected an earlier claim that two helicopters were shot down.

The heavy fighting broke out in the morning in the region that lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since 1994 at the end of a separatist war. It was not immediately clear what sparked the fighting, the heaviest since clashes in July killed 16 people from both sides.