Stepanakert, Azerbaijan, Oct 3 (AFP/APP):Armenia accused Azerbaijani forces of shelling the main city in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region on Friday as heavy fighting raged for a sixth day. After intermittent shelling during the day, Stepanakert, the main city in Karabakh, came under heavy bombardment in the evening with local residents hiding in shelters and some fleeing the city, an AFP team reported. A separatist official, Grigory Martyrosyan, told journalists that “public buildings, houses and infrastructure were damaged” but the city would not be evacuated. Baku and Yerevan have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over the ethnic Armenian province that broke away from Azerbaijan in a bitterly fought war in the 1990s. New fighting that erupted on Sunday has been the heaviest in decades and has claimed nearly 200 lives, including more than 30 civilians. Yerevan said it was ready to work with mediators for a ceasefire but Azerbaijan insisted that Armenia must first withdraw its troops. French President Emmanuel Macron has accused NATO member Turkey — which backs Azerbaijan — of sending in “jihadist” militants from Syria, which both Ankara and Baku deny. A British-based monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported at least 28 Syrian … Continue reading Karabakh main city struck as Armenia says ‘ready’ for mediation