Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other on Tuesday of starting fire around the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, in a clash that left both sides dead.
The defence ministries of the two countries issued statements on Tuesday afternoon, saying an unknown number of their soldiers had died in clashes near the disputed Lachin corridor.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement that Azerbaijani forces began firing at about 12 p.m. (00:<> GMT) at Armenian troops who were engaged in engineering work near the village of Tig in the southern Armenian province of Sionik.
It said its forces had taken "countermeasures", without elaborating or providing details.
The Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman posted footage that he said documented the moment Azerbaijani forces attacked their troops, showing Azerbaijani armed forces soldiers approaching Armenian soldiers carrying out engineering work in the car and then firing.
According to the spokesman for the ministry, the presence of Armenian forces in an open area, the approach of Azerbaijani military vehicles and an armed clash took place.
The village of Tig is not located in the disputed area, but is the last village in the territory of Armenia on a major road linking Armenia to the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Armistice Agreement
Azerbaijan's defence ministry said its forces came under "heavy fire" from Armenian troops stationed in the Syunik province.
The two rival countries in the South Caucasus, formerly part of the former Soviet Union, fought wars for 35 years for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but inhabited mostly by Armenian populations.
Under a Russian-brokered truce in the fall of 2020, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Moscow deployed troops to oversee compliance with the truce.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held several rounds of peace talks sponsored by the European Union and the United States.
Last month, Pashinyan noted some progress on the peace process, but warned that "fundamental problems" remained due to Azerbaijan's "attempt to put forward territorial demands, which is a red line for Armenia."
The European Union last month deployed an expanded monitoring mission on the Armenian side of the border, with a growing Western presence in an area traditionally seen as a vital Kremlin sphere of influence.
Armenians in Karabakh seceded from Azerbaijan after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the ensuing conflict killed some 30,<> people.