Mass grave uncovered in Khojaly district as Azerbaijan continues search for missing citizens PHOTO/VIDEO

A new mass grave has been uncovered in Azerbaijan’s Khojaly district, further exposing the brutal legacy of the First Karabakh War.

According to Caliber.Az, the site revealed human remains and items of clothing, drawing immediate attention from media crews, including reporters and a film team from the outlet itself.

Eldar Samadov, Deputy Head of the Working Group of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons, said the discovery was made during excavation efforts carried out in April as part of an ongoing nationwide search for Azerbaijani citizens still missing from the years of occupation. The site, located along the Asgaran-Khojaly road, is believed to contain the remains of at least seven people.

In a further grim development, Samadov revealed the discovery of a second mass grave not far from Shusha, at the intersection of the Shusha–Khankendi and Shusha–Lachin roads. “The remains of at least five individuals were found there,” he reported. “The grave was uncovered during construction work, and the bodies have already been exhumed.”

According to Samadov, both sites offer stark evidence of horrific war crimes. The remains found in the Khojaly grave showed unmistakable signs of violent death and torture. “These individuals were subjected to brutal torture before being cold-bloodedly killed and buried in a mass grave,” he said.

Samadov underscored the scale of the human tragedy, reporting that 3,990 Azerbaijani citizens are currently registered as missing due to Armenian aggression. In recent years, through identification efforts and excavation of remains, the fate of 170 missing persons has been clarified.

“The Armenian side had long claimed that a humanitarian corridor was opened for Khojaly’s civilian population,” he said. “However, this mass grave proves there was never any such corridor. Instead, innocent civilians were hunted down and slaughtered.”

This latest discovery adds to the tragic legacy of the First Karabakh War, during which Armenian forces carried out numerous massacres of Azerbaijani civilians. The most devastating of these was the Khojaly massacre. On the night of February 25, 1992, Armenian troops, with support from the Soviet Union’s former 366th Motor Rifle Regiment, launched a brutal assault on the town of Khojaly.

The attack claimed the lives of 613 Azerbaijanis, including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly people. An additional 1,275 were taken hostage, and 150 remain unaccounted for more than three decades later. A further 487 people were seriously wounded, including 76 children.

Since the end of the Second Karabakh War in 2020, Azerbaijani authorities have uncovered mass graves in several formerly occupied areas. These include the grounds of the former Shusha prison, Dashalti village, Sarijali village of the Aghdam district, Edilli in Khojavand, Farrukh in Khojaly, Yukhary Seyidahmadli in Fuzuli, and Bashlibel in Kalbajar. Altogether, the remains of approximately 400 Azerbaijani citizens have been recovered so far.

By Tamilla Hasanova