Three years ago Armenia launched deadly missile strike on Azerbaijan's Barda district

Armenia’s missile attack killed 4 civilians, including 2 children, and wounded 13 in Azerbaijan’s eastern district of Barda three years ago in 2020, Caliber.Az informs.

The missile attack has seriously damaged 5 private houses in the Garayusifli village of the Barda district on October 27.

Starting from the noon of October 27, 2020, the Goranboy and Barda districts were shelled intensively by Armenia's armed forces with missiles and heavy artillery from different directions.

Back then, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the shelling as “another war crime committed by Armenia in recent days in gross violation of the agreed humanitarian ceasefire for the third time through the continued efforts of international mediators and its commitments under the international humanitarian law”.

The Barda district and the city center were subjected to rocket and heavy artillery fire of the Armenian Armed Forces three times on October 5, 27, and 28. As a result, 29 people were killed, 112 were injured, and significant damage was caused to civilian infrastructure and vehicles.

The General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan opened a criminal case into the incidents under articles 120.2.1, 120.2.4, 120.2.12, 100.2 and other articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Over the decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan had been locked in an armed conflict over the latter’s Karabakh (Garabagh) region. Following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, Armenia launched a military campaign against Azerbaijan. The war ended in a ceasefire in 1994 and saw Armenia forcibly occupying 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. Over 30,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 3,890 went missing, and one million were expelled from these lands in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by Armenia.

On September 27, 2020, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict took a violent turn when Armenia’s forces deployed in occupied Azerbaijani lands shelled military positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. During the 44 days of the war, the Azerbaijani forces liberated over 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha, from a nearly 30-year-long illegal Armenian occupation. The war ended with the signing of a tripartite statement by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on November 10, 2020. Under the agreement, Armenia also returned the occupied Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan.