TENSIONS have flared dangerously between Armenia and Azerbaijan after four Azeri soldiers were killed during clashes on the Armenian border.

Sunday’s incident was the first major violence since 2016, when four days of fighting broke out between the two Caucasus nations.

Each side blamed the other, with Azerbaijan insisting that Armenia had initiated the clashes when it broke a fragile ceasefire agreement by shelling its positions, an allegation denied by Armenia, which claimed that Azeri soldiers had failed to heed two warning against incursions into territory outside their control.

In a statement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry accused Armenia of attempting a land grab in the Tovuz district along the border between the two countries.

“The attack of the enemy forces was prevented by retaliatory measures. As a result of the combat, three servicemen of the Azerbaijani army were killed and four were injured,” the statement confirmed, with a later update adding that another had died in a hospital.

“This provocative act of the Armenian armed forces should be seen as a continuation of the recent actions and statements of the leadership of aggressor state Armenia, which serve to increase tensions in the region.”

Azerbaijan was predictably backed by its key regional ally Turkey, with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu calling on Armenia to “pull its head together” and accusing it of violating its neighbour’s territory.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged restraint on both sides, warning that a further escalation would be unacceptable and threaten regional security.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said blame for the incident lay squarely with Azerbaijan.

“We strongly condemn [the] provocative actions of Azerbaijani armed forces and, with their resumption, [the] political-military leadership of Azerbaijan will bear all the responsibility for the unpredictable consequences of undermining regional stability,” he said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at officially war since the break-up of the Soviet Union three decades ago. The conflict dates back to 1918, in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution, and tensions have never been fully resolved.

At its centre is the disputed status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian region inside Azerbaijan. Yerevan treats it as an independent nation, while Baku insists that it is an integral part of its territory.

Armenian militia fought a successful six-year guerilla war against Azerbaijan from 1988 until a ceasefire was signed in 1994. The Nagorno-Karabakh parliament backed ties to Armenia, but the vote was boycotted by Azeri representatives.