Nagorno-Karabakh truce frays amid new shelling reports

The new truce announced on Saturday was a second attempt to establish a cease-fire and end the fighting that killed hundreds since September 27, when clashes resumed in a conflict that has simmered for decades. A cease-fire deal brokered by Russia earlier this month quickly frayed as both sides blamed each other for repeated violations.

Yerevan: More reports of shelling on Monday challenged the new cease-fire in the conflict over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where heavy fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces has raged for over three weeks.

The Nagorno-Karabakh military said Monday that Azerbaijani forces in the morning resumed shelling in the northern and the southern directions. Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanian also reported "heavy fighting" in the southern direction of the conflict zone.

Azerbaijan, in turn, accused Armenian forces of shelling its Goranboy, Terter, and Aghdam regions overnight and targeting the Aghjabedi region in the morning.

Also Monday, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev announced that the country's forces have taken control over 13 villages in the Jabrayil region near the Iranian border.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. By the time the war ended, Armenian forces not only held Nagorno-Karabakh itself but also captured substantial areas outside the territory borders.