Azerbaijan says Armenia shelled positions near disputed enclave – Tass

(Reuters) – Azerbaijan on Saturday accused Armenia of shelling its positions close to the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which the 2 neighbours have been preventing over intermittently for 30 years, Tass information company stated.

The Azeri defence ministry stated it had returned fireplace after Armenia used artillery to assault troops within the Lachin and Kalbajar areas to the west of the enclave.

Individually, Armenia’s defence ministry denied the cost, Interfax information company stated.

The dispute over the area, a mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan managed for the reason that Nineteen Nineties by ethnic Armenians, flared in 2020 right into a six-week struggle by which Azeri troops regained swathes of territory.

The 2 sides agreed to work on a peace plan after Russia brokered a ceasefire however periodically accuse one another of firing shells throughout the border.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke individually with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday to attempt to nudge the previous Soviet republics towards peace.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Enhancing by Alistair Bell)