Azerbaijan said on September 20 that its military measures in Nagorno-Karabakh were continuing for a second day, having launched what it calls “anti-terror” operations in the enclave.
The Azerbaijan defense ministry said the operation began hours after four soldiers and two civilians died in landmine explosions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Fears of a fresh war in the volatile Caucasus region have been growing recently, with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of a troop build-up around the disputed Armenian-majority territory. Separatists said Azerbaijan on Tuesday pounded the mountainous territory with artillery, combat aircraft and attack drones, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called it a “ground offensive.”
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities say 27 people have been killed, including two civilians, and many more wounded since the offensive began.
Baku has said it is prepared for talks, but insists “illegal Armenian military formations must raise the white flag” and dissolve their “illegal regime”.
Azerbaijan and Armenia first went to war in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then in 2020 Azerbaijan recaptured areas in and around Nagorno-Karabakh before a truce was agreed and monitored by Russian peacekeepers.
