Timur Haligov, an Azerbaijani Turkish father embraces the body of his 10-month-old baby girl, Narin, who was killed by overnight shelling by Armenian forces, during a funeral ceremony, in Ganja, Azerbaijan, Oct 17, 2020. (CAN EROK/DHA VIA AP)

UNITED NATIONS /  BRUSSELS - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday condemned "all attacks on populated areas" in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh zone of conflict, as Armenia and Azerbaijan reportedly accused each other of violating the latest humanitarian ceasefire agreement.

Azerbaijan and Armenia traded accusations of violating a new ceasefire on Sunday, hours after they agreed for the second time to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region

In a statement released by his spokesperson, Guterres described the "tragic loss of civilian lives, including children, from the latest reported strike on Oct 16" on Azerbaijan's second largest city of Ganja as "totally unacceptable".

The UN chief reiterated that "indiscriminate attacks on populated areas anywhere, including in Stepanakert/Khankendi and other localities in and around the immediate Nagorno-Karabakh zone of conflict" were likewise totally unacceptable.

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Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a truce to begin at midnight on Saturday local time, reportedly following interventions by Russia, and other leaders of the Minsk Group of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which was created in 1992, to encourage a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The group is co-chaired by the United States, France and Russia, and its permanent members are Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

A neighbor comforts home owner, Lida Sarksyan (left) near her house destroyed by shelling from Azerbaijan's artillery during a military conflict in Stepanakert, the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Oct 17, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

In a separate statement issued in Brussels Sunday, the European Union (EU) welcomed the humanitarian truce and denounced any violation of the newly reached ceasefire.

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According to a statement issued by EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, the bloc "deplores that, unfortunately, violations continue, with reported fighting in and around Nagorno Karabakh".

Azerbaijan and Armenia traded accusations of violating the new ceasefire on Sunday, hours after they agreed for the second time to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The first truce came on Oct 10, but was followed by crossfires.