Azerbaijan ‘will respond to Armenia on the battlefield’ after 13 killed in missile attack
AZERBAIJAN yesterday accused Armenia of striking its second-largest city with a ballistic missile that killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 50 others in a new escalation of their conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Defence Ministry denied launching the strike, but the separatist authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh put out a statement listing alleged “legitimate” military facilities in the city of Ganja, although they stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attack.
Azerbaijani officials said the Sovietmade Scud missile destroyed or damaged about 20 residential buildings in Ganja, and emergency workers spent hours searching the rubble for victims and survivors. In a televised address to the nation, Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, denounced the missile strike as a war crime and warned the leadership of Armenia it would face responsibility. “Azerbaijan will give its response and it will do so exclusively on the battlefield,” Mr Aliyev said.
While authorities in both Azerbaijan and Armenia have denied targeting civilians, residential areas have increasingly come under shelling amid the hostilities that have raged for three weeks despite Russia’s attempt to broker a ceasefire.
Stepanakert, the regional capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, came under intense shelling, leaving three civilians wounded, according to separatist authorities. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.
The latest outburst of fighting has involved heavy artillery, rockets and drones, killing hundreds and marking the largest escalation of hostilities between the South Caucasus neighbours in more than a quarter-century.