Azerbaijan commemorates 16th anniversary of deadly terrorist attack at Azerbaijan State Oil Academy

Sixteen years have passed since the terrorist attack at the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy (ADNA), one of the deadliest tragedies in the country’s modern history.

The attack took place on April 30, 2009, in the second building of the academy at 227 Dilara Aliyeva Street in Baku, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

The assailant, Farda Asad oghlu Gadirov, a Georgian citizen born in 1980, entered the premises and opened fire with a Makarov pistol. He moved from floor to floor, from the first to the sixth, shooting indiscriminately at students and staff.

Gadirov killed 12 people and wounded 13 others. Once he reached the sixth floor and realised that he was surrounded by police, he barricaded himself in one of the classrooms and took his own life.

Immediately after the attack, a joint investigative-operational team from the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan was formed. As a result of their efforts, several individuals connected to Gadirov were brought to justice.

A criminal case was opened under several articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, including terrorism, premeditated murder, smuggling, illegal acquisition, possession, carrying, and transportation of firearms and ammunition, as well as illegal acquisition, possession, and transportation of narcotics.

During the investigation, law enforcement agencies discovered that Gadirov had acted on the orders of Armenian intelligence services. 

The case materials identify the mastermind of the terrorist act as Martmartun gumashyanun Grigoryevich Gumashyan, born March 6, 1951, in the village of Shulaver in Georgia’s Marneuli district. He was declared internationally wanted via Interpol.

Gumashyan, motivated by ethnic hatred, conspired in early 2009 with several Georgian citizens of Azerbaijani origin — including Farda Gadirov, Javidan Amirov, Najaf Suleymanov, and Nadir Aliyev — to carry out a terrorist act targeting Azerbaijanis in Baku.

On August 10, 2010, Azerbaijan’s Serious Crimes Court sentenced Nadir Aliyev, Javidan Amirov, Najaf Suleymanov to life imprisonment, and Ariz Gabulov to 11 years in prison. Due to Gadirov’s suicide, criminal proceedings against him were terminated.

The victims of the April 30, 2009, terrorist attack at ADNA were:

Taleh Tariel oghlu Mammadov (b. 1980, Sumgayit)

Ayna Abbasgulu gizi Gurbanova (b. 1957, Salyan)

Tamilla Zulfugar gizi Azizova (b. 1951, Baku)

Yusif Telman oghlu Bandaliyev (b. 1989, Jalilabad)

Ramiz Khalil oghlu Abdullayev (b. 1940, Baku)

Majnun Abdulvahid oghlu Vahidov (b. 1946, Baku)

Jeyhun Sakit oghlu Aslanov (b. 1988, Shirvan)

Emin Imamali oghlu Abdullayev (b. 1989, Dashkasan)

Ruslan Jafar oghlu Babashov (b. 1990, Sabirabad)

Ayaz Javan­shir oghlu Baghirov (b. 1988, Baku)

Shafa Afet gizi Mammadova (b. 1978, Baku)

Savalan Allahverdi oghlu Jabbarov (b. 1987, Baku)

By Tamilla Hasanova