Live Updates: Over 20 Houses Destroyed by Missile Fire in Azerbaijan's Ganja, Presidential Aide Says

"As a result of the missile attack on civilians in central Ganja, 12 people have died and more than 40 have been injured, many civilian facilities and vehicles have been seriously damaged", the General Prosecutor's Office said.

Further update: More than 10 civilians killed, around 40 are wounded. Rescue operations continue. Armenia's policy of state terror must be stopped. pic.twitter.com/I6ahPmmLXy

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 17, 2020

UPDATE: the number of killed as a result of Armenia's vile missile attack to Ganja reached to 6. The number of wounded is 35. Civilians are continued to be saved from the debris of destruction by emergency services. pic.twitter.com/Dfp3FLQwkV

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 16, 2020

The ballistic missiles have been fired from the territory of Armenia against the city of Ganja. It is far away from combat zone. There was no military necessity. Armenia's foreign ministry in vile manner attempts to deny its state responsiblity for this nefarious warcrimes. pic.twitter.com/JC3jvLtKDL

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 16, 2020

UPDATE: 35 civilians have been wounded and 5 civilians killed as a result of Armenia's missile attacks to Ganja. 2 kids are among the dead. Emergency works are still going on. Armenia's terror and WarCrimes continues. pic.twitter.com/2WcLkeqVpB

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 16, 2020

According to initial information so far 23 individuals have been seriously wounded and 2 persons killed as a result of Armenia's missile attack to Ganja city. These are not final figures. Emergency Services are working on the ground. WarCrimes of Armenia continues. pic.twitter.com/lcg2jyn3VZ

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 16, 2020

Innocent civilians in the second biggest city of Azerbaijan are under the indiscriminate and targeted missile attack of Armenia. Unscrupulous calls for humanitarian ceasefire should see these war crimes of #Armenia. According to initial info more than 20 houses destroyed. pic.twitter.com/fznh82kqur

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 16, 2020

"A closed meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh will take place on Monday at 3.00 pm", the mission said on Friday evening.

New missiles systems have been brought to Armenia. Immediately they started to attack civilians in Azerbaijani cities in treacherous and cruel manner. In Ganja casualties among civilians are reported. Manifestation of Armenia's state policy of terror.

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 16, 2020

"The air defence system of the Republic of Armenia has detected flights of the Azerbaijani UAVs to the direction of the Khatsakh, Artsvanik, Davit Bek settlements of the Syunik region of the Republic of Armenia, which was followed by an attack towards military installations of the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia damaging also the civilian infrastructure. Fortunately, no one was killed and wounded", the foreign ministry said.

"Responding to the statements of the military and political leadership of Azerbaijan, no fire at Azerbaijan from the territory of the Republic of Armenia, or by the Armenian armed forces has been opened", Armenian Defence Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said.

NOW: Hiding itself behind humanitarian truce armed forces of Armenia continue its practice of terror and war crimes.
Ganja and Mingachevir cities of Azerbaijan came under missile attacks. Casualties and damages to be identified.

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) October 16, 2020

"Enemy drones have been found in the airspace of Armenia. Relevant measures are being taken", Armenian Defence Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan wrote on her Facebook page on late Friday.

According to Armenia's emergencies ministry, the air raid warning sounded in the cities of Goris and Meghri by technical mistake.

All three cities are located in the south of Armenia, close to Nagorno-Karabach.

"We strongly condemn the illegal visit of Vitaly Milonov, a member of the Russian State Duma from the ruling party United Russia, to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This illegal visit, which took place in the context of the new aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and openly supported the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, completely contradicts the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia at a high level", the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Sputnik.

According to the ministry, "such an irresponsible step by a State Duma member does not correspond to Russia's official position in support of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan".

"The name of Vitaly Milonov is included in the list of foreign citizens who are prohibited from entering Azerbaijan for illegally visiting the occupied territories of the country in violation of the relevant legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan", it said.

In 2013, Baku published a blacklist of foreigners who visited the territory of the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic without the consent of the Azerbaijani authorities. Persons from the list are not allowed to Azerbaijan.

TORONTO (Sputnik) – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said he told his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan during a phone conversation that Canada would work with its international partners to put an end to the violence in Nagorno Karabakh.

"This morning, I spoke with Prime Minister Pashinyan of Armenia to express our concern about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. I told him that Canada will continue to work extremely hard with all of our allies to put an end to the violence", Trudeau said at a press briefing.

Trudeau reiterated his desire to see the warring parties come to the negotiating and table and find a diplomatic solution to the decades-long conflict.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remains personally engaged with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and is scheduled to speak to Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov later on Friday, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a press briefing.

"The Secretary-General has continued his personal engagement on this issue. He spoke yesterday with the Foreign Minister of Armenia", Dujarric said. "Today, he is scheduled at some point, it could be very soon, about this afternoon [to speak] with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan."

Guterres is very concerned about the impact of the conflict on the civilian population and his message to both sides has conveyed the need for implementing and fully respecting the ceasefire for humanitarian purposes, Dujarric said.

While the conflict remains dynamic, it is crucial that Armenia and Azerbaijan quickly move toward de-escalation to mitigate the risk of further destabilising the region, Dujarric added.

Azerbaijan’s glorious Army has liberated Khirmanjig, Agbulag and Akhullu villages of Khojavend district. Long live Azerbaijan’s Army! Karabakh is Azerbaijan!

— Ilham Aliyev (@presidentaz) October 16, 2020

LONDON (Sputnik) – The UK government condemned on Friday the reported continued shelling of civilian areas in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to abide by the ceasefire agreed on 10 October in Moscow.

"It is therefore imperative that the parties to the conflict stop the violence immediately, abide by the 10 October agreement and return to substantive negotiations under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs", the UK said in a statement quoting a speech delivered at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Permanent Council.

In his address, the deputy head of the UK delegation Nicola Murray also called all external parties and friends of Azerbaijan and Armenia to redouble their efforts in support of an end to hostilities and to abstain from taking actions that could risk further exacerbating the crisis.

After stressing that the UK has been advocating for a long time for a comprehensive resolution of the conflict, Murray said a solution can only be achieved through a negotiated settlement and not through military action.

"All parties must urgently return to the negotiating table to work toward this aim without preconditions", he added.

At the same time, Aliyev stressed that the establishment of a Turkish military base in Azerbaijan has never been discussed.

"We have no military goals, plans in Armenia. We have no plans to move the military campaign to Armenia", the president said in an interview with the Turkish broadcaster A Haber.

He added that it was too early to speak of peacekeepers entering the Karabakh region, where Baku and Yerevan are locked in conflict.

"The administration of the Russian president has justly remarked that the issue must be decided with the agreement of both sides. As I have repeatedly said, the basic principles include an item on peacekeepers. But at the very last stage. After the territory has been de-occupied, after refugees have returned. Today, it is too early to speak about that", Aliyev said.

"We have the information that weapons are being smuggled from Georgia on civilian and cargo planes. Armenia has recently bought a plane, as far as we know, it cost $30-40 million. Rich Armenian business people who live in Russia bought it — Karapetyan, Abramyan, and others. They are sending Armenians from Russia to Karabakh as mercenaries. And buying Il-76 allowed them to transport arms illegally", the president said.

According to Aliyev, Baku learned that Armenia smuggled rockets from Russia.

"We officially turned to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, this is an international crime. The official agencies in Russia explained that Russia was not sending weapons to Armenia", Aliyev said in an interview with Turkish broadcaster A Haber.

YEREVAN (Sputnik) - Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan has expressed his concern over alleged ceasefire violations committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian Foreign Ministry's press department said on Friday after Mnatsakanyan held talks with the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) secretary-general, Stanislav Zas.

During their conversation on Thursday, Mnatsakanyan is said to have reiterated Armenia's commitment to the Russian-brokered truce agreed on Saturday in Moscow. The foreign minister also "expressed concern over Azerbaijan's failure to fulfil its obligations as it continues striking civilian settlements in Artsakh [self-designation for the breakaway Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh]", the ministry said.

Mnatsakanyan is also said to have told Zas that any Azerbaijani encroachment on Armenian territory was inadmissible, adding that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh have the "right to live freely and safely in their historical homeland", as quoted by the ministry.

Turkey's involvement in the conflict also poses a risk to the collective security of the CSTO, the Armenian foreign minister said, adding that Yerevan will continually update the organisation of the latest developments.

BAKU (Sputnik) - The Armenian Armed Forces continued shelling areas near the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh on Friday morning, despite a humanitarian ceasefire, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry claimed.

"Today, starting from the morning the armed forces of Armenia, in gross violation of the humanitarian ceasefire regime, have been subjecting to fire the regions of Goranboy, Terter, Aghdam, and Aghjabadi", the ministry said.