STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan: Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged rocket fire as fighting intensified over Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday, with the breakaway region鈥檚 capital and Azerbaijan鈥檚 second-largest city bombarded.
Yerevan said Nagorno-Karabakh鈥檚 main city Stepanakert, which has been under artillery fire since Friday, was hit again on Sunday and AFP journalists said there were regular explosions and smoke rising in parts of the city.
Azerbaijan鈥檚 defense ministry said Ganja, a city of more than 330,000 in western Azerbaijan, was also 鈥渦nder fire鈥� while separatist forces claimed to have destroyed an air base there.
The two sides accused each other of targeting civilian areas, as the conflict appeared to be widening a week after heavy fighting broke out in the decades-old dispute over Karabakh.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have resisted international calls for a cease-fire and clashes have intensified in recent days, with both sides claiming victories on the front and saying they are inflicting heavy losses.
Sirens were sounding and explosions were heard at regular intervals in Stepanakert, where residents were taking shelter including several families in the basement of a church.
Armenia鈥檚 foreign ministry said Stepanakert and the town of Martakert were under rocket attack and accused Azerbaijani forces of 鈥渢he deliberate targeting of the civilian population.鈥�
It said the air force was also involved. Drones could be heard flying over Stepanakert.
Azerbaijan said Ganja was under fire, including from areas outside of Karabakh.
鈥淎rmenian forces struck Ganja with rockets from Armenian territory,鈥� said Hikmet Hajjiyev, an adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
He said Armenian forces had also used heavy artillery and rockets against the towns of Terter and Goradiz in Azerbaijan.
Karabakh鈥檚 separatist forces said they had targeted and destroyed an air base in Ganja, while the region鈥檚 leader, Arayik Harutyunyan, warned that it would now consider 鈥渕ilitary facilities in Azerbaijan鈥檚 big cities鈥� as legitimate targets.
鈥淚 call on the residents of these cities to immediately leave,鈥� Harutyunyan said in a post on Facebook.
Azerbaijan claims to have made gains in Karabakh in recent days, with its defense ministry saying that 14 settlements have been taken as well as a strategically important plateau.
In an address to the country on Saturday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Armenians were facing a 鈥渄ecisive moment鈥� and called for the nation to come together.
Armenia on Saturday announced the deaths of 51 more separatist fighters, taking the number of reported fatalities on both sides above 240, including more than 30 civilians.
Russia, the United States and France 鈥� whose leaders co-chair a mediation group that has failed to bring about a political resolution to the conflict 鈥� have called for an immediate halt to the fighting.
Armenia has said it is 鈥渞eady to engage鈥� with mediators but Azerbaijan 鈥� which considers Karabakh under Armenian occupation 鈥� has said Armenian forces must fully withdraw before a cease-fire can be brokered.
Karabakh鈥檚 declaration of independence from Azerbaijan during the collapse of the Soviet Union sparked a war in the early 1990s that claimed 30,000 lives.
Talks to resolve the conflict have made little progress since a 1994 cease-fire agreement.
The breakaway province is not acknowledged as independent by any country 鈥� including Armenia 鈥� and Karabakh said Saturday that international recognition was 鈥渢he only way toward peace and security in the region.鈥�
Yerevan has accused Turkey of dispatching mercenaries from Syria and Libya to the fighting 鈥� an allegation confirmed and denounced by Russia and France.