Azeri-Armenian fighting increases civilian deaths

Fighting between the military forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia over a disputed territory is increasing civilian fatalities.

Hostilities involving the Nagorno-Karabakh region erupted on September 27. The conflict has now caused more than 240 deaths, including 35 civilians.

On Saturday and Sunday, Azerbaijani forces mounted mortar and rocket attacks on Stepanakert, a city of 50,000 people, in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenian forces say they retaliated by shelling a military airbase in Ganja, Azerbaijan's second largest city with 330,000 residents.

Both sides say they targeted military positions, but their attacks also resulted in civilian deaths.

Azerbaijani forces destroyed residential housing and road sections in Stepanakert. Some ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh began evacuating to Armenia.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies in Azerbaijan, but is primarily populated by ethnic Armenians. The autonomous region has been at the heart of the roughly 30-year-old territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia -- both former Soviet republics.

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