YEREVAN - Azerbaijani forces on Thursday shelled Armenia, killing three civilian women, officials in Yerevan said, as tensions mounted in the Caucasus neighbours’ decades-long conflict over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

Three women aged up to 94 “died as a result of shelling by Azerbaijani armed forces” in Armenia’s north-eastern Tavush region close to the border with Azerbaijan, Armenia’s Interior Ministry Spokesman Ashot Agaronyan told AFP.

“A 70-year-old women was killed in the village of Paravakar village, and two other women, aged 94 and 41 were killed in the village of Berdavan. Two other civilians were wounded,” he said.