![](https://i0.wp.com/gagrule.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/cluster-bomblets-on-the-streets-of-Nagorno-Karabakhs-capital.jpg?resize=700%2C394&ssl=1)
- At least 45 civilians have died amid conflict over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
- Western journalists have reported seeing banned cluster bombs on city streets
- Armenia and Azerbaijan have not signed a treaty banning the use of the munition
Azerbaijani forces are using banned cluster bombs on Armenian forces as they the countries battle, western journalists have confirmed.
The two countries have reported at least 266 deaths since fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh territory broke out on September 27, including 45 civilians.
Yesterday there were reports that cluster bombs – which spread explosive bomblets when detonated – were being used.
Small un-detonated bomblets have been seen littering the streets of Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital following heavy shelling by Azerbaijani forces, according to the Daily Telegraph.
According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, about 220 servicemen on their side have died in the clashes since then. The state-run Armenian Unified Infocentre said 21 civilians have been killed in the region and 82 others wounded.
Azerbaijani authorities have not given details about military casualties, but said 25 civilians had been killed and 127 wounded.
Neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan have signed the International Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has 109 countries’ signatures, including Britain’s, agree to stop using the explosive device, since 2010.
Speaking about the munitions, which are produced by Azerbaijani weapon suppliers Israel and Turkey, Tim Ripley, a writer and defence analyst for Jane’s Defence Weekly, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘We can’t be certain why these were in use or what exactly they were being aimed at, but any kind of cluster munition being used in an urban area opens the possibility of civilians being inadvertently killed or injured.’
Separatist forces in Karabakh – an ethnic Armenian enclave that broke away from Azerbaijan in the 1990s – reported firefights along the frontline on Monday with the regional capital Stepanakert under heavy artillery fire.
Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said Armenian forces were shelling three of its towns, after hitting the country’s second-largest city Ganja on Sunday.
The clashes broke out on September 27, re-igniting a decades-old conflict between the ex-Soviet neighbours over Karabakh and threatening to draw in regional powers like Russia and Turkey.
Neither side has shown any sign of backing down, ignoring international calls for a ceasefire and a return to long-stalled negotiations on the region.
Stepanakert, a city of some 50,000 in the heart of the mountainous region, has been under steady artillery fire since Friday, with residents cramming in to underground shelters and many leaving.