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At least seven dead bodies were recovered from debris after what Baku described as shelling of Ganja conducted by the Armenian forces, one day after a ceasefire between the two sides had been due to take effect, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said on Sunday.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to a cease-fire in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region beginning at noon Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the announcement in Moscow in the early hours Saturday after mediating 10 hours of talks between the two sides.
France accused Turkey on Wednesday of “military involvement” on the side of Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, the latest volley in a war of words between Paris and Ankara.
“The new aspect is that there is military involvement by Turkey which risks fuelling the internationalisation of the conflict,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament.
A battalion belonging to Myanmar’s military and a people’s militia office in Shan State was shelled by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) on Saturday, but no one was injured, military spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy.
The battalion was hit twice and the people’s militia office was attacked with an RPG, said the Tatmadaw (military) spokesman.
Azerbaijan said on Sunday that Armenian forces had fired rockets at its second city of Ganja, killing one civilian and wounding four, and threatened to retaliate by destroying military targets inside Armenia.
The developments marked a sharp escalation of the war in the South Caucasus that broke out one week ago.