Two ethnic Armenian soldiers have been killed in a new upsurge in fighting between Azerbaijani forces and separatists from the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh, the separatist statelet said on Tuesday.

Two ethnic Armenian soldiers have been killed in a new upsurge in fighting between Azerbaijani forces and separatists from the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh, the separatist statelet said on Tuesday.

"On the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Karabakh forces, the enemy violated a ceasefire 80 times using all types of artillery and armored vehicles," said the defense ministry of the breakaway region, claiming it had also inflicted casualties on Azerbaijani forces.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have for decades been at loggerheads over the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh and have not signed a peace deal despite a 1994 ceasefire, with Armenian-backed separatists seizing the territory from Azerbaijan.

Earlier this month, more than 100 people died in the worst violence to hit Nagorny Karabakh since the inconclusive ceasefire deal in 1994 halted a war that left some 30,000 people dead.

A Moscow-mediated truce went into effect earlier this month but clashes have continued since then.

The latest surge in violence sparked fears that a wider conflict in the key strategic region could drag in regional powers Russia and Turkey.