PARIS (AFP) – Fresh border fighting erupted Friday between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, both sides said, a day after deadly clashes threatened to derail EU-led weekend peace talks between the two countries.
The Caucasus neighbors are locked in a decades-long territorial dispute over region of Nagorno-Karabakh, over which they have fought two wars.
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said: “Armenian armed forces opened fire from trench mortars on Azerbaijani positions” at the border.
On Thursday, an Azerbaijani serviceman was killed and four Armenian troops were wounded during border clashes.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are scheduled to meet Sunday in Brussels for talks led by European Council President Charles Michel.
The rival leaders have also agreed to jointly meet the leaders of France and Germany on the sidelines of a European summit in Moldova on June 1, according to the EU.
The two countries went to war in 2020 and in the 1990s over disputed territories.