Harsh clashes between Armenia's forces and Azerbaijan

Yerevan's decision to raise the level of army mobilisation comes after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pledged “fity” to Armenian forces in Nagorno Karabakh, a region inhabited mainly by ethnic Armenians.

Armenia has accused Azerbaijani forces of shelling settlements in Nagorno Karabak and Baku officially said Armenian forces have attacked Azerbaijan's military and civilian positions.

Both sides have reported casualties.

Armenia's prime minister, Nikola Pashinian, has written on Facebook that the government has ordered full army mobilization. He has earlier declared Azerbaijan striking civilian settlements in the Nagorno Karabakh region, including in the regional capital, Stepanckert.

Azerbaijan has said it has launched a military operation in response to the bombing, in the so-called “Contact Line”, which shares the forces of this state with those of Armenia.

Armenia's Defence Ministry said the army has crashed two helicopters and three Azerbaijann drones. But this news has been denied by the official Baku.

Our “response will be proportional, and Azerbaijan's political and military leadership will bear responsibility for the situation”, Armenia's Defence Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijann Defence Ministry said its forces “are taking revenge measures and our troops have full control of the operational situation”.

Armenian authorities have said that during clashes between the two sides, another woman and one child have been killed.

The clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan have intensified in recent months.

The Nagorno Karabakh region and seven other Azerbaijani counties were taken over by Armenia-backed separatists who declared independence during the 1988-1994 conflict. At least 30,000 people were killed in this conflict and hundreds of thousands were displaced.

In 1994, Russia brokered a fragile ceasefire, and since then this region has been under the control of ethnic arms forces, which Azerbaijan says include troops coming from Armenia. This region has declared independence, but has not been recognised by any country.

Talks on reaching a peaceful agreement and ending the conflict have been led by the so-called Minsk Group, led by the United States, France and Russia. But, so far, there has been no progress on the road towards reaching a solution to the conflict.