Azerbaijan, Armenia agree to observe cease-fire

Azerbaijan and Armenia on Friday agreed to observe a cease-fire after clashes lasted for almost one week, leaving the truce in tatters.

Both sides of the conflict agreed to observe the ceasefire along the contact line effective from 3 a.m. local time, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces conducted a search for the remains of soldiers who were killed during recent clashes, said the statement.

The sides conducted search operations with the mediation of the OSCE and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the contact line of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region have reportedly flared up overnight Saturday with the two countries' defense ministries blaming each other for triggering the escalation.

The clash lasted several days and left more than 70 soldiers and civilians dead before a ceasefire was agreed in Moscow on Monday.

Also on Friday, Azerbaijani Foreign ministry spokesman Khikmat Hajiyev told media here on Friday that Azerbaijan will hold talks on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement only with Armenia.

"Armenia occupied the Azerbaijani territories, so Azerbaijan will hold talks with Armenia and not with Nagorno-Karabakh separatists," he said in a statement.

He added that Baku has always welcomed the establishment of contacts between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has governed its own affairs with military and financial support from Armenia.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over the mountainous territory in the early 1990s in which thousands were killed on both sides and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The war ended with a truce in 1994, although there have been sporadic clashes since. The cease-fire was shattered on Saturday, with Azerbaijan's army and the Armenian-backed separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh exchanging heavy fire using artillery, tanks, rocket systems and helicopters.

Source: XINHUA