Tensions mount as Armenia, Azerbaijan continue fighting

 Armenian and Azerbaijani forces accused each or of attacks on ir territory Tuesday, as fighting over separatist region of Nagor-Karabakh continued for a third straight day following reigniting of a deces-old conflict.

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said Armenian forces shelled Dashkesan region in Azerbaijan, while Armenian officials said Azeri forces opened fire on a military unit in Armenian town of Vardenis, setting a bus on fire and killing one civilian.

Armenia's Foreign Ministry “completely” denied reports of shelling Dashkesan region and said in a statement that with those reports Azerbaijan was laying groundwork for “expanding geography of hostilities, including aggression against Republic of Armenia."

previous two days of fighting killed dozens and left scores wounded. Nagor-Karabakh Defense Ministry reported 84 servicemen killed so far. Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, said Tuesday that 10 civilians were killed on its side, but he didn't offer any details on country's military casualties.

heavy fighting broke out Sunday in Nagor-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenian government since 1994 at end of a separatist war.

region in Caucasus Mountains of about 4,400 square kilometers (1,700 square miles), or about size of U.S. state of Delaware, is 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Armenian border. Soldiers backed by Armenia also occupy some Azerbaijani territory outside region.

renewed fighting prompted calls to end hostilities from around world.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pushed for “an immediate ceasefire and a return to negotiating table" in phone calls with leers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, her office said Tuesday.

She told two leers that Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe offers an appropriate forum for talks and that two countries’ neighbors “should contribute to peaceful solution,” Seibert said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a visit to Greece that “both sides must stop violence" and work "to return to substantive negotiations as quickly as possible.”

Turkey is supporting Azerbaijan in conflict, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling on Armenia to immediately withdraw from separatist region.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that Turkey is “by Azerbaijan’s side on field and at (negotiating) table.”

Cavusoglu told reporters that international community must defend Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in same way it defended integrity of Ukraine and Georgia.

“y are holding Azerbaijan, whose territories have been occupied, on an equal footing with Armenia. This is a wrong and unjust approach," Cavusoglu said after a visit to Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Ankara.

Russia, which along with France and United States co-chairs Minsk group set up in 1992 to resolve Nagor-Karabakh conflict, urged every country to help facilitate a peaceful resolution of conflict.

“We call on all countries, especially our partners such as Turkey, to do everything to convince opposing parties to cease fire and return to peacefully resolving conflict by politico-diplomatic means,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

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