At least 12 killed in missile attack on Azerbaijan’s 2nd biggest city: Baku
Baku, Oct 17 (efe-epa).- At least 12 people were killed and more than 40 injured overnight in an Armenian missile attack on Ganja, the second biggest city of Azerbaijan, the Azeri prosecutor general’s office said on Saturday.
The Azeri’s president’s foreign policy advisor Hikmet Hajiyev alleged that the tactical ballistic missile Elbrus, known in the West as a Scud missile, was used in the Friday night attack, launched from Armenian territory.
“Targeting SCUD missile against densely populated civilians shows complete immorality and schizophrenic mindset of Armenia’s pol-mil (political-military) leaders,” Hajiyev tweeted.
He highlighted that the city of Ganja was situated far away from the combat zone and the attack, which he termed a “war-crime,” was not based on any “military necessity.”
Hajiyev claimed that the Azeri air-defense system intercepted various missiles targeting Mingachevir, the fourth biggest city in Azerbaijan.
According to Azeri authorities, two missiles hit a residential district in Ganja, completely destroying five buildings and damaging 15 others.
Although Azerbaijan and Armenia had agreed to a humanitarian ceasefire mediated by Russia a week ago, military action has continued unbated in the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
War broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh on Sep. 27 over a long-standing territorial dispute and hundreds of people, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed on both sides since then.
The conflict has its origins in the collapse of the Soviet Union, when in the 1980s the majority Armenian population of the Azeri territory requested it be incorporated into Armenia proper.
The resulting conflict left over 25,000 dead.
The Armenian forces remained in control of the region when fighting ended in 1994. Armenian soldiers also occupied the territory between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan insists the only solution to the conflict is for Nagorno-Karabakh to be brought under its sovereignty, while Armenia has supported the right to self-determination for the region and backs the participation of the separatist leadership in negotiations. EFE-EPA
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