BAKU, Azerbaijan

At least five Armenian troops have been killed in border clashes with Azerbaijani soldiers, said Azerbaijani officials on Monday.

The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan said in a statement that Armenian soldiers fired at Azerbaijani positions with howitzers on Saturday.

Azerbaijani forces fired back and killed at least five Armenian soldiers and wounded eight, the ministry said. 

The statement added that also three Azerbaijani soldiers had been slightly wounded .

Clashes between the two countries started in 1988 with the invasion of the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia, which later evolved into a full-fledged war in 1992.

Since the end of the war in 1994, Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations have held talks over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh under the supervision of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Minsk Group. 

Although a cease-fire was signed in 1994, clashes regularly occur along the border.