Moscow, Nov. 9, (dpa/GNA) – The Azerbaijani armed forces asserted on Monday that they avoid firing on civilian targets or infrastructure, as fighting continued in Armenian-held parts of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“The Azerbaijani Army does not fire on civilian settlements & infrastructure,” the country’s Defence Ministry said on Twitter.
“The alleged information of the Armenian side about the shelling of #Khankendi by the AZE Army is #nonsense & #Armenianfakenews,” the ministry also tweeted, using the Azerbaijani name of Stepanakert, the region’s capital.
Armenian authorities have accused Azerbaijani forces of targeting the capital and of causing casualties.
Azerbaijan said at the weekend that it had taken control of the strategically important town of Shusha – known as Shushi in Armenian – which has been the focus of fighting in recent weeks.
Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan have been engaged in intense fighting for more than a month as Azerbaijan’s military advances into Armenian-held parts of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been controlled by Christian Armenian troops for more than a quarter century but is considered by the United Nations to be part of predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the recent fighting, which began in late September.
With more than 1,000 people reported killed, the fighting has been the deadliest since Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in the late 1980s and early 1990s as they transitioned into independent countries amid the Soviet dissolution.
GNA