BAKU, Azerbaijan -- The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces continued Sunday over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Azerbaijan accusing Armenia of targeting cities that are far beyond the conflict zone.
Hikmet Hajiyev, aide to Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev, said Armenia targeted Ganja and Mingachevir with missile strikes. Ganja, home to several hundred thousand people and the country's second-largest city, is roughly 60 miles away from Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh's capital, and so is Mingachevir.
The clashes broke out Sept. 27 and have killed dozens of people, marking the biggest escalation in the decades-old conflict over the region, which lies within Azerbaijan but is controlled by local ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia.
This week's fighting has prompted calls for a cease-fire from around the world, including Russia, France and the United States.
Hajiyev tweeted a video depicting damaged buildings, and called it the result of "Armenia's massive missile attacks against dense residential areas" in Ganja. It wasn't immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the video. Hajiyev said in another tweet that attacks on Ganja and other areas in Azerbaijan were launched "from territory of Armenia."
[Video not showing up above? Click here to view » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkKglnNBitk]
Armenia's Defense Ministry said that "no fire of any kind is being opened from the territory of Armenia in Azerbaijan's direction." Nagorno-Karabakh's leader, Arayik Harutyunyan, said on Facebook that he ordered "rocket attacks to neutralize military objects" in Ganja, but later told his forces to stop firing to avoid civilian casualties.
Azerbaijani officials denied that any military objects had been hit, but said the attack caused damage to civilian infrastructure. One civilian was killed and 32 suffered injuries, authorities said.
"Opening fire on the territory of Azerbaijan from the territory of Armenia is clearly provocative and expands the zone of hostilities," Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov said in a statement.
As the fighting resumed Sunday morning, Armenian officials accused Azerbaijan of carrying out strikes on Stepanakert and targeting the civilian population there. Nagorno-Karabakh's leader Harutyunyan said that in response, his forces would target "military facilities permanently located in major cities of Azerbaijan."
[Gallery not loading above? Click here for more photos » arkansasonline.com/105armenia/]
In a statement issued later Sunday, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry rejected accusations of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Aliyev's aide Hajiyev tweeted Sunday evening that Armenian forces also hit Mingachevir, which "hosts a water reservoir and key electricity plant," with a missile strike. He didn't say whether there was damage to the reservoir or the plant.
Nagorno-Karabakh officials have said nearly 200 servicemen on their side have died in the clashes so far. Eighteen civilians have been killed and more than 90 wounded. Azerbaijani authorities haven't given details on their military casualties, but said 24 civilians have been killed and 111 wounded.
Aliyev, the Azerbaijani president, tweeted Sunday that the country's troops "liberated from occupation the city of Jabrayil and several surrounding villages." Nagorno-Karabakh's officials rejected the claim as untrue, saying the territory's army "is controlling the situation in all directions."
Nagorno-Karabakh was a designated autonomous region within Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. It claimed independence from Azerbaijan in 1991, about three months before the Soviet Union's collapse. A full-scale war that broke out in 1992 killed an estimated 30,000 people.
Information for this article was contributed by Daria Litvinova, Aven Demourian and Zeynep Bilginsoy of The Associated Press.
