Azerbaijan: Unilateral Cease-Fire Against Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry announced a unilateral cease-fire Sunday against the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, but rebel forces in the area said that they continued to come under fire from Azerbaijani forces.
Azerbaijan: Unilateral Cease-Fire Against Nagorno-Karabakh
Armenian servicemen of the self-defense army of Nagorno-Karabakh fire an artillery shell towards Azeri forces from their positions in the town of Martakert in Armenian-seized Azerbaijani region of Nagorny-Karabakh on April 3, 2016. Clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces rumbled on April 3, despite Baku announcing a cease-fire after the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed Nagorny-Karabakh region sparked international pressure to stop fighting. Vahram Baghdasaryan/AFP/Getty Images
The Associated Press
Updated:

BAKU, Azerbaijan—Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry announced a unilateral cease-fire Sunday against the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, but rebel forces in the area said that they continued to come under fire from Azerbaijani forces.

Fighting in what was a dormant conflict for two decades flared up over the weekend with a boy and at least 30 troops killed on both sides. Each side blamed the other for Saturday’s escalation, the worst since the end of a full-scale war in 1994.

The Defense Ministry said, in response to pleas from international organizations, it will be unilaterally “suspending a counter-offensive and response on the territories occupied by Armenia.” The ministry added it will not focus on fortifying the territory that Azerbaijan has “liberated.” It did not elaborate.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan, has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military since a war ended in 1994 with no resolution of the region’s status. The conflict is fueled by long-simmering tensions between Christian Armenians and mostly Muslim Azeris.

Armenian forces also occupy several areas outside Nagorno-Karabakh proper. The sides are separated by a demilitarized buffer zone, but small clashes have broken out frequently.