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GANJA, KOMPAS.com – A missile attack destroyed several houses in the city of Ganja, in central Azerbaijan, on Saturday (10/17/2020).
A resident told reporters AFP, saw seven victims being pulled out of the rubble.
The attack came hours after the shootings in Nagorno-Karabakh capital Stepanakert marked a new escalation in the three-week conflict between ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis over separatist territory.
Also read: Armenia launches missiles in the city of Marihuana in Azerbaijan, 6 civilians killed
Tim AFP in Ganja he saw a building block shattered in rubble, with people fleeing the scene crying.
Some people wore towels and pajamas, because the attack occurred in the middle of the night, and many people also ran in slippers.
Dozens of rescuers in red helmets rushed to find the victim empty-handed in the dark.
Hours after the search, a team brought a black bag containing body parts to the ambulance, including the head and arms.
Hikmat Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, tweeted, according to “preliminary information, more than 20 houses were destroyed.”
Meanwhile, another residential district in Ganja was also hit by a missile and killed 10 civilians last Sunday (11/10/2020).
Also read: US Foreign Minister: Armenia must be able to defend itself from Azerbaijan
Silence orders
Rescuers must be quiet in order to detect the voices of survivors.
An eyewitness said he saw a young child, two women and four men being pulled out of the rubble, although it was not yet known whether they survived or not.
“One woman lost a leg. Another person lost an arm at the elbow,” said Elmir Shirinzaday, 26. AFP.
AFP He then saw three more people being transported on stretchers, although it was not clear whether they were alive or dead.
“My wife is there, my wife is there,” yelled a man when a paramedic took him to an ambulance.
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Around the same time in the city of Mingecevir, an hour’s drive north of Ganja, AFP I heard a huge explosion shaking the buildings.
Mingecevir is protected by the missile defense system due to a strategic dam there, and it is not yet known whether the missile was destroyed in midair or hit the ground.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Mingecevir was targeted, but did not provide further details.
An Azerbaijani official said the second missile hit the Ganja industrial district separately at the same time. However, there were no further details about the second attack.
The war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which was the result of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh for decades, broke out again on September 27.
Also read: Azerbaijan claims to destroy missile emplacements used by Armenia to attack its citizens
The western mountainous region of Azerbaijan has remained under the control of ethnic Armenian separatists since the 1994 ceasefire, which ended a six-year war and killed 30,000 people.
The current escalation is the deadliest and longest since the war.
The shooting in Stepanakert and the attack in Ganja followed a joint call by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday (10/14/2020) to “end the bloodshed as soon as possible”.
Also read: The death toll from the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh reaches 600
