Azerbaijani MFA: Embassy surveillance cameras captured entire course of attack
VIDEO

POLITICS  06 February 2023 - 17:30

On January 27, a terrorist attack on the Azerbaijani Embassy in Iran killed Orkhan Asgarov, the chief of the embassy's security service, and injured two other employees, Vasif Tagiyev and Mahir Imanov.

Embassy surveillance cameras recorded the course of the attack, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Caliber.Az.

"On January 27, 2023, before the attack, the terrorist in his car drove in front of the embassy twice (at 08:05 and 08:24) to choose the right moment to commit a crime. At 08:32, just after the embassy staff entered the main entrance doors of the diplomatic mission's administrative building, the terrorist deliberately crashed into the mission's official vehicle, which was parked in front of the embassy. Taking advantage of the fact that an embassy employee, who had responded to the noise, opened the door of the mission, the terrorist took his assault rifle out of the vehicle, made a hand signal to the Iranian police officer who was standing at the front door and entered the mission building firing his assault rifle. At 08:34, two minutes after the terrorist entered the embassy, the Iranian police vehicle drove up to the embassy, but after a few seconds of talking to the policeman at the post near the front door, left the area.

For 4 minutes, i.e. until 08:36, the terrorist fired at our employees inside the administrative building, as a result of which the embassy employee Orkhan Asgarov died on the spot from gunshot wounds and another employee - Mahir Imanov was seriously wounded in his right arm and left leg. Another embassy employee, Vasif Tagiyev, attacked the terrorist in order to neutralise him. While the embassy employee was disarming the terrorist, the terrorist wounded him in the shoulder. Despite his injury, Tagiyev continued to struggle and was able to remove a clip from the perpetrator's assault rifle. At that time the terrorist pulled a gun from his jacket and opened fire on Tagiyev. This time he shot Tagiyev in the jaw. A Colt gun was later found at the scene during an inspection of the embassy area. Despite his wound, Tagiyev was able to drive the criminal out of the embassy building.

All the while, the Iranian police officer who was on duty at the front door not only did not interfere in the incident but even left his post and the embassy area. The terrorist, who was escorted out of the embassy building, took a spare clip from his jacket pocket, inserted it into his automatic rifle, made two hand signals to someone, and then, after threatening and using abusive language, opened continuous fire on the embassy's front door as well as on the windows of the diplomats' families' residences. The terrorist also set the wheels of the embassy vehicle on fire twice with an incendiary mixture.

After making sure that the front door is solid and difficult to break through with machine gun shots, the terrorist tried to break down the door with a heavy tool that he pulled out of the trunk of his car, and for the second time broke into the embassy to kill diplomats and their family members. The terrorist, who opened fire and attempted to reach the first floor of the embassy, was attacked by Tagiyev, who hit him on the head with a fire extinguisher (this moment was not captured on camera), as a result of which the terrorist was forced to leave the building.

Coming out in the street, the terrorist threw his assault rifle on the ground, once again making a sign to people standing nearby, but the police did not approach him. Taking advantage of the inaction of the police, the terrorist took a Molotov cocktail from his car and attempted to set fire to a car parked in front of our embassy and belonging to our mission. At that time, the police approached the terrorist, who had inadvertently set himself on fire.

They did not hurry to arrest the culprit, but began talking to him and took up an observation position. The terrorist took advantage of this and roamed the area for some time, threatening and insulting our embassy diplomats, saying "I will kill you all". The police officers again failed to respond. The terrorist then walked freely to the embassy building, picked up a heavy tool in front of the police, and put it in his car.

Later the terrorist attempted to attack Tagiyev again, and only then did the police cuff him, put him in a car, and take him away. It is also noteworthy that at that time an unidentified person wearing a mask took some items from the terrorist's car and left the premises.

The fact that the terrorist chose Friday, which is a day off in Iran (to minimize the circumstances that could interfere with the attack), the fact that he brought an assault rifle, a Colt gun, a spare clip, a Molotov cocktail, heavy tools to the crime scene and the inaction of the Iranian police, suggest that it was all a pre-planned act," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

Caliber.Az