Armenia-Azerbaijan war: 58 soldiers, 9 civilians dead; UN calls for calm

Reuters photo

Yerevan: Nagorno-Karabakh`s defence ministry on Tuesday said that 27 of its fighters were killed in fighting with Azerbaijan forces, bringing their total military losses to 58.

The overall death toll rose to 67 including nine civilian deaths -- seven in Azerbaijan and two on the Armenian side, Al Jazeera reported.

Azerbaijan has not reported any military casualties, but Armenian separatist officials released footage showing burnt-out armoured vehicles and the bloodied and charred remains of soldiers in camouflage it said were Azerbaijani troops.

Yesterday, heavy fighting between the forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia broke out in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh region. The region lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since 1994.

The flare-up continued for the second day. Most of the international community, including the United States, Russia, Iran and European powers, have been calling for an end to hostilities and the start of talks.

As the clashes continued for Monday, UN chief Antonio Guterres spoke to the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Guterres stressed that "the need for an immediate stop to the fighting and resumption without the precondition of meaningful negotiations without delay under the umbrella of the Minsk Group co-chairs, and also for the immediate redeployment of [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] monitors to the region," according to Guterres` spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric.