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Azerbaijan reports Armenia’s shelling of districts adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh

Tartar and Agdam districts came under attack, according to official Baku

BAKU, October 20. /TASS/. Armenia has shelled Azerbaijan’s Tartar and Agdam districts adjacent to the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Armenian Armed Forces are shelling the Tartar and Agdam districts," the statement reads.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians. Moscow brokered a humanitarian ceasefire that took effect on October 10 but was violated. On October 17, the foreign ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan announced plans to declare another ceasefire on October 18 but hostilities continue and the parties keep blaming each other for violating the ceasefire.

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.