First anniversary of Armenia's deadly armed attack on peaceful Barda

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

In continuation of their acts to violate international humanitarian law during the 44-day war last year, on October 27, 2020, Armenian troops launched a missile attack on Azerbaijan's Barda city far from the war zone.

Barda was attacked after the U.S-mediated humanitarian truce became effective at 08:00 (GMT +4) on October 26. 

As a result of a rocket attack from the Smerch multiple rocket launcher on Barda, five civilians, including a child, were killed and 13 civilians, including children and women, were seriously wounded.

To that time, Armenia violated the humanitarian ceasefire already for a third time (the joint statement in Moscow on October 10, the reaffirmation of commitment by Paris on October 18, and the agreement on an emergency humanitarian ceasefire in Washington on October 24).

On October 27, 2021, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov shared on Twitter a publication related to the anniversary of Armenia's missile attack on Barda.

"Missile attacks on Barda city of Azerbaijan by the armed forces of Armenia on 27-28 October 2020, killed many innocent Azerbaijani civilians. We remember the victims of this heinous attack with deep sorrow. Those responsible for this war crime must be held responsible!" the Twitt reads.

The Armenian armed forces launched missile attacks on Barda on October 5, 8, 27, and 28.

On October 5, 2020, at about 12:30 (GMT +4), heavy artillery fire was fired at a house on Tabriz Street in Barda by the Armenian armed forces. One of the fired missiles hit the house of a resident in the region's center. Subsequently, the house caught fire and became completely unusable.

Seven people were injured in the intensive artillery shelling of Barda region from 10:00 (GMT +4) on October 8. Two people were hospitalized with various injuries after a rocket hit a restaurant in Barda's center.

At the same time, rockets hit nearby secondary school No 5 in the region, injuring five more people. The school building and numerous vehicles were severely damaged.

On October 28, 2020, at about 13:00 (GMT +4), the Armenian armed forces fired two 300-mm 9M525 type missiles with a 9N235 cluster warhead containing 72 fragmentation combat elements (totally 144) from the Smerch multiple-launch missile system on the busy area of ??Barda city. As a result, 21 people, including five women, were killed, and 70 people, including eight children and 15 women, received injuries of varying severity.

As a result of Armenia's military aggression, 100 Azerbaijani civilians were killed, including 12 children and 27 women. As many as 454 people were injured, including 35 children. Some 181 children lost one parent, five children lost both parents, one family died. In total, 12,292 residential and non-residential buildings and 288 vehicles were damaged.

A criminal case has been initiated into the death of every civilian in Azerbaijan caused by the Armenian terror, and appeals have been sent to international courts and organizations.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10, 2020, brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions and urged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historic Shusha city.