Armenia and Azerbaijan reject talks as clashes continue for fourth day

Armenia and Azerbaijan rejected international calls for peace talks andnegotiations as fierce clashes over the disputed region of Nagorny-Karabakh spilled over into a fourth day on Wednesday.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are engaged in the heaviest fighting in years over Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian province that broke away from Azerbaijan in the 1990s during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The long-simmering conflict erupted on Sunday with the two sides trading heavy fire and blaming each other for the outbreak of violence. There has been no let-up in the fighting since the weekend, with both sides reporting new clashes on Wednesday. Officials in both countries have made claims of huge losses for the other side, but these have not been possible to verify.

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Nearly 100 people are confirmed to have died in the flare-up and both sides are claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on opposing forces.

There has been increasing international pressure for a ceasefire, as fears grow that the conflict could escalate into a devastating all-out war and draw in regional powers like Turkey and Russia. But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Wednesday that talks with Azerbaijan were not yet on the table.

Russia has repeatedly called for an end to the fighting and offered to help with negotiations.

Defence officials in Yerevan on Wednesday accused Turkish jets of performing "provocative flights" along their shared border and of violating Armenia airspace, a day after Yerevan said a Turkish jet had downed one of its warplanes.

Yerevan is claiming that Turkey, a longstanding ally of Azerbaijan, is providing direct military support, including mercenaries, for Baku.It said on Tuesday that a Turkish F-16 flying in support of Baku's forces had downed an Armenian SU-25 warplane, but Ankara and Baku denied the claim.

"It isn't very appropriate to speak of a summit between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia at a time of intensive hostilities," Pashinyan said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also rejected negotiations during an interview with Russian TV on Tuesday.

Azerbaijan has released no information on its military casualties, while the Armenian side has registered 81 deaths. A total of 17 civilians have been reported dead.

Azerbaijan's defence ministry said its troops had "destroyed 130 tanks, 200 artillery units, 25 anti-aircraft units, five ammunition depots, 50 anti-tank units, 55 military vehicles". It said Karabakh's separatist forces had "shelled the city of Terter, targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure."

Karabakh's defence ministry, for its part, said Azerbaijani forces "continued artillery shelling" of separatist positions along the frontline on Wednesday morning.

The two sides have accused each other of targeting civilian areas, including in areas away from Karabakh.

Armenia and Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilisation Sunday, while Azerbaijan imposed military rule and a curfew in large cities.

(with inputs)