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Azerbaijani armed forces trying to take over Hadrut, says Armenian info center

At the talks held at Russia’s initiative in Moscow, Baku and Yerevan agreed a ceasefire, which came into effect at 12:00 local time on October 10

YEREVAN, October 12. /TASS/. Large-scale military activity continues in the Hadrut area, the Azerbaijani forces are trying to take over the city, the Armenian government’s information center informed on Monday.

"Large-scale military activity in the Hadrut area is ongoing. The enemy is attempting to take over the city by concentrating the bulk of its forces in this direction," the information center notes.

For his part, Armenian Defense Ministry Representative Artsrun Hovhannisyan informed that the defense forces of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic keep the situation fully under control, with all the attacks of the Azerbaijani forces repelled on the line of contact.

At the talks held at Russia’s initiative in Moscow, Baku and Yerevan agreed a ceasefire, which came into effect at 12:00 local time on October 10 for humanitarian reasons in order to exchange detainees and the bodies of those killed in the fighting. Shortly after noon the sides traded blame for violating the ceasefire agreement.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.

The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.