It would be the deadliest reported attack on civilians since new fighting over the occupied region of Nagorno-Karabakh broke out a month ago.
This follows Tuesday’s attacks that killed at least four civilians, including a toddler, in an Armenian missile strike on a village in Barda.
Azerbaijan’s presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said Armenian forces have used cluster Smerch missiles in the attack.
“Following missile attacks to Tartar, armed forces of Armenia firing rockets to Barda. No lessons learned from yesterday’s killing of civilians with cluster weapons. Armenia must end its military occupation and #WarCrimes,” Hajiyev said on Twitter.
“Such deliberate War Crimes of Armenia are deplorable,” he added.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry in a statement confirmed that “there are killed and injured people” and “civilian infrastructure was damaged.”
“Armenian armed forces, grossly violating the humanitarian cease-fire regime, have fired at the Barda city from the ‘Smerch’ MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System),” the ministry said.
Armenian defense ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan denied the claim.
“The statement of the ministry of defense of Azerbaijan that the Armed Forces of Armenia allegedly hit the town of Barda with Smerch is groundless and false,” she said on Facebook.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned Armenia for “inhumane attacks on civilians” in Azerbaijan.
“We strongly condemn Armenia’s inhumane attack and call on the countries having conscience and responsibility to stop the war crimes that Armenia continues to commit,” it said in a statement.
Despite the cease-fire, “Armenia’s ongoing attacks targeting civilian settlements outside the conflict zone in Azerbaijan trample on all universal humanitarian and moral values.”
A new U.S.-brokered temporary humanitarian truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia was announced Sunday and took effect at 8 a.m. local time (4 a.m. GMT) Monday.
Since the clashes erupted Sept. 27, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating three humanitarian cease-fires since Oct. 10. To date at least 65 Azerbaijani civilians have died and 297 have been injured.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan and seven adjacent regions.
Four U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and two from the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) as well as international organizations demand the “immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces” from the occupied Azerbaijani territory.
In total, about 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory – including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.
The Minsk Group, set up by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – co-chaired by France, Russia, and the U.S. – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.
World powers, including Russia, France, and the U.S., have called for a sustainable cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku’s right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia’s occupying forces.
Source:dailysabah.com
