Three Armenian soldiers killed in clash with Azerbaijan

ThreeArmeniantroops died in border clashes with Azerbaijani forces on Wednesday,Yerevansaid, in the deadliest military incident between the arch-foes since their war last year over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"As a result of armed action launched following an attack by Azerbaijani forces, there arethreedead and two wounded from theArmenianside as of 08:30 (0430 GMT)," the defence ministry inYerevansaid.

It said an intense shootout took place near the village of Sotk at the north-eastern sector of the border shared by the Caucasus neighbours.

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Armenia's foreign ministry said that "the Azerbaijani side is deliberately escalating the situation as its forces remain illegally on Armenia's sovereign territory."

Azerbaijan's defence ministry accused Armenia of a military provocation, saying "two Azerbaijani servicemen were wounded" afterArmenianforces opened fire towards Azerbaijani positions in the district of Kelbajar, in the early hours of Wednesday.

"Armenia bears full responsibility for the escalation of tensions along the two countries’ shared border," it said.

Tensions between Baku andYerevanhave been running high since May, when Armenia accusedAzerbaijan's military of crossing its southern frontier to "lay siege" to a lake shared by the two countries.

The six-week war between Armenia and Azerbaijan last autumn claimed about 6,500 lives and ended in November with a Russian-brokered ceasefire under which Armenia ceded territories it had controlled for decades.

Both countries have reported occasional shootouts in recent months along their shared border, sparking fears of a flare up in the territorial dispute.

EthnicArmenianseparatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away fromAzerbaijanas the Soviet Union collapsed, and the ensuing conflict has claimed around 30,000 lives