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Azerbaijan and Armenia accuse each other of violating the ceasefire negotiated by Russia.
At least seven people were killed in an Armenian bombardment overnight in Azerbaijan’s second city of Ganja, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said, less than 24 hours after a ceasefire was agreed in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
The Russian-brokered truce, implemented after marathon talks in Moscow between the two sides, was aimed at stopping the fighting to allow ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azeri forces to exchange prisoners and war dead.
But the two sides accused each other of violating the terms of the truce just minutes after it took effect.
The Armenian Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijan of bombing a settlement inside Armenia, while the ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh alleged that the Azerbaijani forces had launched a new offensive.
Both sides have consistently denied mutual claims about military activity.
Here are the latest updates:
Sunday October 11
08:00 GMT – There were no casualties in the night bombing of Stepanakert
Nighttime shelling in the Nagorno-Karabakh administrative city of Stepanakert did not cause casualties, and residents said the second day of the ceasefire had been much quieter.
“The ceasefire [was] It wobbles a lot during the night, but it seems calmer this morning, ”said Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, speaking from the Armenian city of Goris.
Stepanakert residents welcomed the truce, but warned against a temporary fix.
“A ceasefire is certainly good, but the problem must be solved,” said Boris Grigoryan, a barber.
“You cannot have a ceasefire and several years later, a war again. A ceasefire must solve the problem that is our independence ”.
07:40 GMT – Ganja death toll expected to rise, says Al Jazeera correspondent
The attack on a building in Ganja has injured more than 40 people, including at least 10 children, said Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu.
Speaking from the site where seven people have died, Koseoglu said search and rescue teams are digging through the rubble and hope to find more bodies.
“The impact of the explosion is very wide,” he said. “We heard from officials that it is a ballistic missile that hit the area. The diameter of the explosion area from where the missile hit is more than 10 meters deep. “
The cities of Ganja and Mingachevir have no active artillery units deployed there. Not a single rocket or bullet was fired from these cities. However, the Armenian army attacks them. And somehow they continue to attack only civilian targets.
– Khadija Ismayilova (@Khadija_Ismayil) October 11, 2020
Koseoglu added that the Azeri industrial city of Mingecevir was also targeted by “two ballistic missiles at around 4 am local time.”
“The ceasefire appears to be totally violated and out of order. The citizens of Azerbaijan are not happy with the ceasefire because they have lost many civilians and military personnel in the conflict.
06:30 GMT – Armenian bombing kills seven: Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan said on Sunday that shelling by Armenian forces in the country’s second-largest city had killed seven, a day after a ceasefire between the two sides went into effect.
A “new night missile attack by Armenian forces in (a) residential area of Ganja” left seven dead and 33 injured, including children, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
The defense ministry of the breakaway region said the Armenian forces were respecting the ceasefire and, in turn, accused Azerbaijan of bombing civilian areas.
Reports about “Karabakh forces bombing Ganja are an outright lie,” he added.
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