Azerbaijan says four civilians killed in Armenia attack

BAKU: Azerbaijan on Tuesday accused Armenia of a missile strike on a village in its Barda region near the frontline with Nagorno-Karabakh that killed four people, but Yerevan denied carrying out any attack.

Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said that a toddler was among the dead and that 10 people were wounded, accusing Armenia of an "indiscriminate and targeted attack against civilians".

"In violation of humanitarian ceasefire and in order to compensate their sustained military losses, Armenia resorts to war crimes of killing civilians," Hajiyev said in English on Twitter.

Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan denied the claim, saying no missile was fired towards Barda by the forces of Armenia or by Armenian separatists in Karabakh.

"The statement of the Azerbaijani side about an alleged rocket attack... is an absolute lie and a dirty provocation," she said on Twitter.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday urged the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia to abide by a US-brokered ceasefire that was agreed at the weekend but quickly fell apart amid mutual claims of attacks.