<p>Four soldiers were killed as troops from Azerbaijan and Armenia clashed on their border for a second day Monday in a new escalation of their decades-long territorial dispute.</p>.<p>Four Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed in the artillery fire that erupted on Sunday near Tavush region, Azerbaijan's defence ministry said, with three deaths on Sunday and one on Monday.</p>.<p>Armenia's defence ministry said Azerbaijan resumed shelling its positions on Monday morning after a night of clashes.</p>.<p>The countries have traded accusations over which side started the fighting.</p>.<p>Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a cabinet meeting that Azerbaijani "provocations will not be unanswered".</p>.<p>His defence minister David Tonoyan warned that Yerevan "will be reacting to Azerbaijani actions, including by taking advantageous positions" in their territory.</p>.<p>He said Armenian forces "do not shell civilian targets in Azerbaijan and only target the engineering infrastructure and technical facilities of the Azerbaijani armed forces."</p>.<p>Armenia's foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan discussed the crisis over the phone with the head of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Moscow-led military bloc.</p>.<p>Referring to the military alliance, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's office said on Sunday that Armenia's "military adventure" was aimed at drawing CSTO into the fighting.</p>.<p>Turkey's foreign ministry issued a statement, backing its Turkic-speaking ally Baku.</p>.<p>"Turkey will continue, with all its capacity, to stand by Azerbaijan in its struggle to protect its territorial integrity," the ministry said.</p>.<p>All-out war between the two countries could drag in regional powers including Armenia's military ally Russia and Azerbaijan's patron Turkey, which compete for geopolitical influence in the strategic region.</p>.<p>Former Soviet republics Armenia and Azerbaijan have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway territory which was at the centre of a bloody war in the 1990s.</p>.<p>The ongoing clashes are far from Karabakh and are directly between the two Caucasus states, which happens rarely.</p>
<p>Four soldiers were killed as troops from Azerbaijan and Armenia clashed on their border for a second day Monday in a new escalation of their decades-long territorial dispute.</p>.<p>Four Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed in the artillery fire that erupted on Sunday near Tavush region, Azerbaijan's defence ministry said, with three deaths on Sunday and one on Monday.</p>.<p>Armenia's defence ministry said Azerbaijan resumed shelling its positions on Monday morning after a night of clashes.</p>.<p>The countries have traded accusations over which side started the fighting.</p>.<p>Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a cabinet meeting that Azerbaijani "provocations will not be unanswered".</p>.<p>His defence minister David Tonoyan warned that Yerevan "will be reacting to Azerbaijani actions, including by taking advantageous positions" in their territory.</p>.<p>He said Armenian forces "do not shell civilian targets in Azerbaijan and only target the engineering infrastructure and technical facilities of the Azerbaijani armed forces."</p>.<p>Armenia's foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan discussed the crisis over the phone with the head of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Moscow-led military bloc.</p>.<p>Referring to the military alliance, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's office said on Sunday that Armenia's "military adventure" was aimed at drawing CSTO into the fighting.</p>.<p>Turkey's foreign ministry issued a statement, backing its Turkic-speaking ally Baku.</p>.<p>"Turkey will continue, with all its capacity, to stand by Azerbaijan in its struggle to protect its territorial integrity," the ministry said.</p>.<p>All-out war between the two countries could drag in regional powers including Armenia's military ally Russia and Azerbaijan's patron Turkey, which compete for geopolitical influence in the strategic region.</p>.<p>Former Soviet republics Armenia and Azerbaijan have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway territory which was at the centre of a bloody war in the 1990s.</p>.<p>The ongoing clashes are far from Karabakh and are directly between the two Caucasus states, which happens rarely.</p>