UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday condemned Armenian indiscriminate missile attacks on Azerbaijan’s densely populated cities, and called “unacceptable” “the tragic loss of civilian lives, including children, from the latest reported strike”.
Calling for the new ceasefire to be respected, the Mr Guterres singled out one of the deadliest attacks on civilians so far, when a missile hit a residential area of Azerbaijan’s second city Ganja on Saturday, killing 13 people including children.
Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, has, along with 7 other districts of Azerbaijan, been under occupation of Armenian military forces since 1994.
“The tragic loss of civilian lives, including children, from the latest reported strike … on the city of Ganja is totally unacceptable, as are indiscriminate attacks on populated areas anywhere,” said a statement from the UN secretary-general’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
The secretary-general notes the latest announcement on the start of the humanitarian truce on 18 October and expects both parties to fully abide by this commitment and resume substantive negotiations without delay.”
On Saturday, An Armenian ballistic missile attack on Azerbaijan’s second largest city of Ganja killed at least 13 civilians and injured 50, AP reported.
Azerbaijani prosecutor’s office said 3 children, 4 women and 6 men were killed, 5 children, 20 women, and 23 men were injured,and 2 children were missing (Update: another child was found dead).
Media reports and parts of missile demonstrated showed a Soviet-made Scud missile destroyed about 20 residential buildings in the city overnight, and rescuers spent hours looking for victims and survivors among the rubble.
Scud missiles date back to the 1960s and carry a large amount of explosives, but are notorious for their lack of accuracy.
In a televised address to the people, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called the missile strike a war crime and warned the Armenian leadership that it would bear responsibility for it.
“Azerbaijan will give an answer, and this will be done exclusively on the battlefield,” Aliyev said.
Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, but has been occupied by Armenia since 1990s along with another 7 districts of Azerbaijan.
Armenia has so far refused to comply with the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and other organisations’s resolutions and calls for immediate and complete withdrawal from the occupied territories.
The latest outbreak began on September 27 and involved heavy artillery, missiles and drones after Armenia-controlled armed separatists launched an unprovoked attack on Azerbaijan .
Armenia missile attack on Azerbaijan’s Ganja caused great destruction and loss of life, APA reports.
