One civilian was killed and two were wounded in Azerbaijani shelling on Armenia, Yerevan's defence ministry said Monday, marking a dangerous escalation after weeks of fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The clashes have raised fears of a full-blown war embroiling regional players Russia on the Armenian side and Turkey, which backs Azerbaijan.
"The Azerbaijani side opened artillery fire in the direction of the positions of the Armed Forces of Armenia and the settlement of Davit Bek," Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan wrote on Twitter.
The ex-Soviet foes have been engaged in fierce fighting for more than a month over Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenian separatists since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
But shelling of Armenia's sovereign territory has so far been rare in the conflict.
Russia said last week it would intervene if fighting reached Armenian soil, after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan formally asked President Vladimir Putin to begin "urgent" consultations on security assistance.
The Caucasus countries are locked in a bitter conflict over Karabakh since the war over the mountainous province in a 1990s that left 30,000 people dead.
The current clashes broke out on September 27 and fighting has persisted despite several international attempts to secure a ceasefire.
More than 1,300 have been confirmed killed in the recent bout and thousands on both sides displaced.
The real toll is believed to be higher since Azerbaijan has not released its military fatalities. Putin said in late October that nearly 5,000 people had been killed.
The UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Monday decried ongoing "indiscriminate" attacks on civilian areas during fighting, warning Armenia and Azerbaijan that such attacks could amount to "war crimes".
She also voiced concern about "compelling" and "deeply disturbing" video images appearing to show Azerbaijani troops executing two captured Armenian soldiers.
