<p>Azerbaijan and Armenia said Tuesday seven servicemen died in a shootout along their shared border, the latest escalation between the arch-foes locked in a decades-long territorial dispute.</p>.<p>The two ex-Soviet Caucasus nations have fought two wars over Azerbaijan's Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the latest hostilities ended in 2020 with a Russian-brokered ceasefire.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/guard-killed-in-shooting-at-azerbaijans-embassy-in-iran-1185090.html" target="_blank">Guard killed in shooting at Azerbaijan's embassy in Iran</a></strong></p>.<p>"Armenian army positions deployed near the settlement of Dyg (at the two countries' shared border) opened heavy fire at Azerbaijani army positions," the defence ministry in Baku said in a statement, adding that Azerbaijani troops "have returned fire".</p>.<p>A few hours later, it said three servicemen were killed in the clashes.</p>.<p>The Armenian defence ministry reported four dead and six wounded.</p>.<p>It had blamed Baku for initiating the shootout.</p>.<p>"At 16:00 (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire in the direction of Armenian servicemen who were conducting engineering works" near the border, the ministry said.</p>.<p>Under a Russian-mediated ceasefire agreement in autumn 2020, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Moscow deployed peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.</p>.<p>Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have held several rounds of peace talks mediated by the European Union and the United States.</p>.<p>Last month, Pashinyan noted some progress in the peace process, but said "fundamental problems" remain because "Azerbaijan is trying to put forward territorial claims, which is a red line to Armenia".</p>.<p>In February, the European Union deployed an expanded monitoring mission to the Armenian side of the border as Western engagement grows in a region that is traditionally the Kremlin's sphere of influence.</p>.<p>When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed some 30,000 lives.</p>
<p>Azerbaijan and Armenia said Tuesday seven servicemen died in a shootout along their shared border, the latest escalation between the arch-foes locked in a decades-long territorial dispute.</p>.<p>The two ex-Soviet Caucasus nations have fought two wars over Azerbaijan's Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the latest hostilities ended in 2020 with a Russian-brokered ceasefire.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/guard-killed-in-shooting-at-azerbaijans-embassy-in-iran-1185090.html" target="_blank">Guard killed in shooting at Azerbaijan's embassy in Iran</a></strong></p>.<p>"Armenian army positions deployed near the settlement of Dyg (at the two countries' shared border) opened heavy fire at Azerbaijani army positions," the defence ministry in Baku said in a statement, adding that Azerbaijani troops "have returned fire".</p>.<p>A few hours later, it said three servicemen were killed in the clashes.</p>.<p>The Armenian defence ministry reported four dead and six wounded.</p>.<p>It had blamed Baku for initiating the shootout.</p>.<p>"At 16:00 (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire in the direction of Armenian servicemen who were conducting engineering works" near the border, the ministry said.</p>.<p>Under a Russian-mediated ceasefire agreement in autumn 2020, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Moscow deployed peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.</p>.<p>Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have held several rounds of peace talks mediated by the European Union and the United States.</p>.<p>Last month, Pashinyan noted some progress in the peace process, but said "fundamental problems" remain because "Azerbaijan is trying to put forward territorial claims, which is a red line to Armenia".</p>.<p>In February, the European Union deployed an expanded monitoring mission to the Armenian side of the border as Western engagement grows in a region that is traditionally the Kremlin's sphere of influence.</p>.<p>When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed some 30,000 lives.</p>