2 teenagers killed in Armenian attacks: Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan

Two teenagers have died in Armenian attacks on civilian settlements, Azerbaijani authorities said on Saturday.

Armenian forces fired missiles and artillery shells towards the areas of Goranboy and Tartar, according to Azerbaijan’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office.

A 16-year-old Azerbaijani boy identified as Orhan Ismayilzade died when an Armenian missile struck his house, the authority said in a statement.

The other victim was Artur Mayakov, a 13-year-old Russian citizen.

He was injured in the Oct. 17 Armenian missile attack on the city of Ganja and succumbed to his injuries in hospital, according to Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijan’s president.

Upper Karabakh conflict

Since clashes erupted on Sept. 27, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating two humanitarian cease-fires in the past two weeks.

The latest humanitarian truce in Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, came into force last Saturday.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly, as well as international organizations, demand the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territory.

In total, about 20% of Azerbaijan's territory – including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.

World powers, including Russia, France, and the US, have called for a new and lasting cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.