Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Hits Major Cities of Stepanakert and Ganja

Sirens were sounding and explosions could be heard at regular intervals in Stepanakert, as residents took shelter, including several families in the basement of the city's Holy Mother of God Cathedral.

Armenia's Foreign Ministry said Stepanakert and other towns had been hit, accusing Azerbaijani forces of "the deliberate targeting of the civilian population".

There were reports of dead and wounded civilians in Stepanakert and the historic town of Shusha.

Azerbaijan said Ganja was under shell fire, including from areas outside of Karabakh in Armenian territory, with at least one civilian killed.

Azerbaijan's ally Turkey accused Armenia of "targeting civilians" in Ganja and reiterated support for its fellow Turkic and Muslim country as "one nation, two states".

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Karabakh leader Arayik Harutyunyan warned that it would now consider "military facilities in Azerbaijan's big cities" as legitimate targets.

"I call on the residents of these cities to immediately leave," Harutyunyan said in a post on Facebook.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Sunday condemned the reports of "indiscriminate shelling and other alleged unlawful attacks using explosive weaponry in cities, towns and other populated areas".

'Bombs falling in the yard'

Azerbaijan claims to have taken control of a string of settlements in recent days as well as a strategically important plateau.

On Sunday Aliyev said his forces had retaken the town of Jabrayil, part of an area outside Karabakh seized by the separatists in the 1990s as a buffer zone, hailing it as an important victory. Armenia denied the claim.

Authorities in both countries have reported more than 250 dead since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began, including 42 civilians.

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Armenian separatist forces have reported more than 200 dead — including 51 on Saturday — while Azerbaijan has not released any figures on its military casualties.