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| - Armenian and Azerbaijani forces intensified their shelling Thursday as French President Emmanuel Macron said the deployment of jihadist militants to Nagorny Karabakh was a "serious new" development. The West and Russia renewed calls to halt several days of fighting over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region that has left more than 130 dead. In a joint appeal, Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Macron urged the two sides to return to negotiations aimed at resolving their longstanding territorial dispute. The French leader announced separately that Syrian jihadist militants who transferred through Turkey had joined the fighting in Karabakh, describing their deployment as a "serious new fact, which changes the situation". Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev have both rejected the idea of holding talks. In Martuni, a small town around 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) from the frontlines, the heavy shelling forced residents adjusting to the ferocity of attacks into the cellars beneath their homes. Artak Aloyan, a 54-year-old construction worker seeking refuge in his basement with an elderly neighbour, vowed to stay in Karabakh despite the worst clashes the contested region has seen for years. "I built this house with my own hands. I will not go anywhere, that's that," he told AFP after a Grad rocket attack. "I will die here in the last battle." Journalists including a team from AFP were interviewing local residents when shelling near Martuni occurred, injuring a reporter and photographer working for the French daily Le Monde. No AFP journalists were hurt. The rival Caucasus nations have been locked in a bitter stalemate over Karabakh since the collapse of the Soviet Union when the ethnic Armenian region broke away from Azerbaijan. The fiercest clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in years ignited Sunday and confirmed deaths topped 130 as fighting raged for a fifth day. Armenian defence ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said fighting had "intensified" in the morning following fewer exchanges at night and that its troops had repelled Azerbaijani attacks. He claimed Armenian forces inflicted "enormous losses" over the night and into the morning, killing 350-360 Azerbaijani troops, downing helicopters and destroying drones and armoured vehicles. Azerbaijan's defence ministry said its forces had carried out "crushing artillery strikes against Armenian forces' positions in the occupied territories". Azerbaijan denied claims by Yerevan that one of its helicopters was shot down and had crashed in Iran. It added that fighters on the Armenian side were "forced to retreat from previously held positions along the entire stretch of the frontline." The two sides have accused each other of shelling civilian areas and ignored repeated calls from international leaders to halt fighting that carries the threat of drawing in regional powers Turkey and Russia. Putin, Macron and Trump called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities" in their statement Thursday and urged the warring sides to commit to talks to resolve the fighting. "We also call on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to commit without delay to resuming substantive negotiations," said the leaders, whose countries are the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group that has sought a solution to the conflict since the 1990s. Yerevan is in a military alliance of ex-Soviet countries led by Moscow and has accused Turkey of dispatching mercenaries from northern Syria to bolster Azerbaijan's forces in the Karabakh conflict. It also claimed earlier this week that a Turkish F-16 flying in support of Baku's forces had downed an Armenian SU-25 warplane, but Ankara and Baku denied the claim. Pashinyan reiterated claims that mercenaries had joined the conflict, saying Azerbaijan and Turkey were fighting "with the help and involvement of foreign terrorist fighters." "This terrorism equally threatens the United States, Iran, Russia, and France," he added. Azerbaijan's ally, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has signalled his country's full backing for Baku's military and on Thursday called for Armenian troops to leave Karabakh. "The way for a lasting ceasefire in this region depends on Armenians' withdrawal from every span of Azerbaijani territory," Erdogan said. Armenia has recorded the deaths of 104 soldiers and eight civilians. Azerbaijan has not reported any military casualties but said 19 civilians were killed after Armenian shelling. Though Azerbaijan has not admitted to any deaths, an AFP journalist in the country's south witnessed the funeral of a soldier killed in the clashes. Karabakh's declaration of independence from Azerbaijan sparked a war in the early 1990s that claimed 30,000 lives, but it is still not recognised as independent by any country, including Armenia. Armenia and Karabakh declared martial law and military mobilisation Sunday, while Azerbaijan imposed military rule and a curfew in large cities. Talks to resolve the conflict have largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire agreement. bur-im-jbr/as/spm
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