Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia says 100,000 refugees flee region

More than 100,000 people have fled the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Armenia says.

It means that that almost the entire population of the ethnic Armenian enclave has left since Azerbaijan seized the region last week.

Azerbaijan has said it wants to reintegrate the area and treat its residents as equals, but an Armenian spokesman said this was just a "lie".

Nagorno-Karabakh - recognised as part of Azerbaijan - had been run by ethnic Armenians for three decades.

The mountainous region in the South Caucasus has been supported by Armenia - but also by its ally, Russia.

At least 200 ethnic Armenians and dozens of Azerbaijani soldiers were killed as Azerbaijan's army swept in. As part of a ceasefire deal, separatists have agreed to surrender their weapons.

The leader of the self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has said it will cease to exist in the new year.

Nazeli Baghdasaryan, a spokeswoman for Armenia's prime minister, said the number of refugees entering the country over the past week had reached 100,417, out of Nagorno-Karabakh's estimated population of 120,000.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) also stated that 100,000 people had fled, stating that many of those fleeing "are hungry, exhausted and need immediate assistance".

Artak Beglaryan, an Armenian former separatist official, said that "the last groups" of Nagorno-Karabakh residents were on their way to Armenia Saturday.

"At most a few hundred persons remain, most of whom are officials, emergency services employees, volunteers, some persons with special needs," he wrote on social media.