Nagorny Karabakh: further escalation, twelve civilians killed in a strike in Azerbaijan

Twelve civilians were killed in the night bombardment of a residential area in Gandja, Azerbaijan's second city, authorities said on Saturday, further escalation of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijanis and Armenian separatists.

The Azerbaijani president vowed to "avenge" the killed civilians.

Azerbaijani President vows revenge

A few hours earlier, Azerbaijani strikes had targeted the separatist capital, Stepanakert, according to AFP journalists in the city, the majority of whose residents had fled since hostilities began on September 27.

The Azerbaijani president vowed on Saturday to "avenge" the 12 civilians killed in the night bombardment of the second city of the country, a strike of which he accuses Armenia, support of the separatists of Nagorno Karabakh.

"The fascist leadership of Armenia has fired on our populated areas (...) this cowardly crime will not break the will of our people. We will respond to it on the battlefield, we will take revenge on the battlefield "proclaimed Ilham Aliev, once again swearing to" hunt like dogs "his Armenian separatist enemy.

Powerlessness of the international community

The deadly strike on Friday night on Ganja was followed by a second in another part of the city and then by a shot aimed at the neighboring town of Mingecevir.

These bombings, as well as the fighting on the front line, bear witness to the powerlessness of the international community for three weeks.

For a week, a humanitarian truce agreement negotiated under the aegis of Moscow has never been applied.

Pentagon chief Mark Esper and French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly reiterated the need to end hostilities on Friday evening.

Nagorny Karabakh, mainly populated by Christian Armenians, seceded from Azerbaijan, a Turkish-speaking Shiite, shortly before the breakup of the USSR in 1991, leading to a war that claimed 30,000 lives in the 1990s. A cease-le- fire, punctuated by clashes, had been in force since 1994.

In Gandja, AFP journalists saw houses destroyed by the missile that struck the sleeping residents around 3:00 am local time (23:00 GMT Friday).

According to the public prosecutor, "12 civilians were killed, 40 wounded".

Crying residents fled the scene, some in pajamas and slippers.

"All the houses around have been destroyed. Many people are under the rubble. Some are dead, others are injured," laments Rubaba Zhafarova, 65, in front of her destroyed house.

"My wife was there!"

Dozens of rescuers were looking for survivors in the night and with their bare hands in the rubble.

After a few hours, a team dropped black body bags with shredded body parts into an ambulance.

"My wife was there, my wife was there," shouted a man led to an ambulance by a medic.

A resident said he saw a child, two women and four men removed from the rubble.

"A woman lost her legs. Someone else lost an arm," said Elmir Shirinzaday, 26.

City of more than 300,000 inhabitants, Gandja has already been struck several times since the start of the conflict, especially on Sunday when a missile had killed ten people. 

AFP journalists said they also felt a powerful explosion overnight in the neighboring town of Mingecevir.

The city is protected by an anti-missile system because it houses a strategic dike.

It was not clear whether any missiles were destroyed in flight or whether they hit any targets. 

On the side of the Armenian separatists, no comment was made on the attack on Gandja, except that the civilian infrastructures of the cities of Stepanakert and Shusha having been targeted by Azerbaijan, "operations to stop the adversary were carried out" , according to the Armenian government's information center.

Fear of an internationalization of the conflict

Elsewhere on the front, fighting continued, with Azerbaijan and Armenia accusing each other of violating the ceasefire.

The Azerbaijani army announced on Saturday morning to have, on the northern front as that of the south, again "pierced lines of fortifications in several places", destroying military equipment, armaments and causing "many deaths".

Azerbaijan has made territorial gains over the past three weeks without winning a decisive battle.

Baku has so far failed to disclose the cost of the conflict, releasing no military, material or human toll, while separatists claim to have killed thousands of men. 

In addition to a potential humanitarian crisis, the fear is that this conflict will become international, Turkey supporting Azerbaijan.

Armenia, which supports the separatists financially, politically and militarily, is in a military alliance with Russia.