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FORCES from Armenia and Azerbaijan clashed on Tuesday along their border, leaving at least seven soldiers dead.
The confrontation follows months of tensions over the blockage of the only road connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.
Armenia’s Defence Ministry said that four soldiers were killed and six wounded while performing unspecified engineering work near the Armenian village of Tegh, about two miles from the border.
Azerbaijan said Armenian soldiers opened fire on them, killing three Azeri soldiers.
The area where the clash took place lies along the Lachin Corridor, the road that leads to Nagorno-Karabakh.
That region came under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia in 1994 after a separatist war.
Six weeks of intensive fighting in 2020 ended with a Russia-brokered truce leaving Azerbaijan in control of the territories and part of Nagorno-Karabakh itself.
But in December, demonstrators who claimed to be environmental activists began blocking the road, alleging that Armenia was conducting illegal mining in the region.
Armenia contends the protests are orchestrated by Azerbaijan. But Azerbaijan alleges that Armenians have used the corridor to transport land mines into Nagorno-Karabakh in violation of the armistice terms.
