Two Azerbaijani soldiers and three Armenian officials were killed in an exchange of fire over Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijani forces captured in a six-week conflict in 2020.

In the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, five persons were killed in clashes between Azerbaijani troops and Armenian police.

Two Azerbaijani soldiers were slain in an exchange of gunfire after soldiers stopped a convoy they suspected of carrying weapons from the area’s main town to more rural areas on an unauthorized road, according to the country’s defense ministry.

Armenia’s foreign ministry stated that three Karabakh interior ministry officials were killed and dismissed as “absurd” allegations that the convoy was transporting weapons.

The ministry stated that it was carrying documents and a service pistol and characterized the gunfight as an “ambush.”

Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized internationally as a component of Azerbaijan, but its population is predominantly Armenian.

This has led to two wars in the three decades since both countries gained independence from the Soviet Union.

In 1994, ethnic Armenian forces supported by Armenia seized control of Karabakh and its environs.

During a six-week war in 2020 that killed 6,000 people, Azerbaijan recaptured large areas.

That conflict ended with a truce and the dispatch of Russian peacekeepers, who remain in the area.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev have met several times to resolve the dispute. But periodic violence has undermined their efforts.

The agreement that ended the 2020 conflict established the Lachin Corridor as the only authorized connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia – a lifeline for the region’s approximately 120,000 inhabitants.

However, the road has been largely blocked since December by protesters believed to be sponsored by Azerbaijani authorities.