YEREVAN/BAKU - Armenian and Azeri forces exchanged fierce fire for a second day on Monday over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, with the sides accusing each other of using heavy artillery amid reports of at least 21 deaths and hundreds of people being wounded.

The clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the heaviest since 2016, have rekindled concern over stability in the South Caucasus region, a corridor for pipelines carrying oil and gas to world markets.

The two former Soviet republics have clashed periodically in a decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region that is inside Azerbaijan but is run by ethnic Armenians.

Azerbaijan’s president declared a partial military mobilisation, and his foreign minister said six Azeri civilians had been killed and 19 injured since the fighting began. Interfax news agency quoted an Armenian defence ministry representative as saying 200 Armenians had been wounded.

Nagorno-Karabakh reported that 15 more of its soldiers had been killed. It had said on Sunday 16 of its servicemen had been killed and more than 100 wounded after Azerbaijan launched an air and artillery attack.(FA)