Armenia and Azerbaijan have for the last two weeks engaged in bitter fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenians after a 1990s war and whose independence is recognised by no other state.

The clashes, the worst since a 1994 ceasefire, have sparked fears of a regional conflict with Turkey backing Azerbaijan, Armenia seeking to pull ex-Soviet ally Russia in on its side and Iran looking on warily.

After 11 hours of talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Moscow, the two sides agreed early Saturday to a humanitarian ceasefire.

But repeated clashes have so far made a mockery of the truce deal.An AFP correspondent in the Azerbaijani town of Barda not far from the front line heard thumping echoes of shelling on Monday morning.

In Karabakh's main city of Stepanakert, an AFP photographer heard the sounds of shelling from the direction of the town of Hadrut.

“Armenian armed forces, which did not comply with the humanitarian truce, repeatedly tried to attack the positions of the Azerbaijan army,” the Azerbaijani defence ministry said.

It said it had destroyed a “large number of enemy forces” as well as one T-72 tank and three Grad multiple rocket launchers.

Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said for her part that Azerbaijan was “now intensively shelling the southern front”.

Armenia claimed that “the adversary suffered great losses of manpower and military equipment” but did not provide further details.

The 1990s war — which ended with the 1994 ceasefire that did not present a long-term solution to the conflict — resulted in the deaths of about 30,000 people.

Nearly 500 people, including more than 60 civilians, have been killed in the latest fighting since last month, according to a tally based on tolls given by both sides.

The ceasefire negotiated in Moscow had agreed to pause hostilities to exchange prisoners and the bodies of people killed, with Azerbaijani officials insisting it was only going to be a temporary measure that would not halt its campaign.