2020 Ganja missile attacks

The Ganja ballistic missile attacks (Azerbaijani: Gəncə bombalanmaları) comprise four separate ballistic missile attacks on the city of Ganja, Azerbaijan in October 2020, during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

2020 Ganja ballistic missile attacks
Part of 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war
Ruins in Ganja after the attacks.
Locations of the ballistic missile attacks
First attack
Second attack
Third attack
Fourth attack
LocationGanja, Azerbaijan
Date
  • 4 October 2020
  • 8 October 2020
  • 10 October 2020
  • 17 October 2020 (GMT+4)
Attack type
Ballistic ballistic missile attack
Weapons
Deaths26
Injured125
Perpetrators

The first attack took place on 4 October, killing one civilian and wounding over 30; it was one of the first serious attacks on civilians in the conflict outside the Nagorno-Karabakh region.[1][2] The second attack occurred on 8 October; no casualties were reported.[3] The third attack happened on 11 October. According to Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, at least seven people died and 33 were injured, including children. The attack was one of the first major violations of the humanitarian ceasefire, signed a day earlier, to attempt to halt the conflict.[4] The fourth attack occurred on 17 October. According to initial reports, fifteen civilians were killed and fifty-five injured in the attack.[5][6] In addition to the loss of human life, infrastructure was also destroyed, including apartment blocks and other buildings, and vehicles.

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of the attacks, but Armenia denied any responsibility;[7] the Artsakh Defence Army admitted responsibility for the first attack. Human Rights Watch reported that the Armenian forces were responsible for all of the attacks.[8] The Azerbaijani government described the third attack "an act of genocide"[9] and retaliated with a missile strike on missile systems in the Armenian-occupied Kalbajar District.[10]

Background
Main article: 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war
An ANAMA employee standing among the ruins of destroyed residential buildings in Ganja after the Armenian ballistic missile attacks.

On 27 September 2020, clashes broke out in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is de facto controlled by Artsakh, but de jure part of Azerbaijan.[11] Ganja, the second largest city of Azerbaijan, is home to a population of 335 thousand people;[12] it is situated 97 kilometres (60 mi) north of the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact and 241 kilometres (150 mi) east of the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border.[13]

On 4th of October, after the first attack, Arayik Harutyunyan, the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh's president, issued a warning to the Azerbaijani army and civilians for the latter to leave Ganja, claiming that military facilities were permanently located in the city.[14][15][16] On 5 October, spokesman of self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh's president, Vahram Poghosyan echoing the earlier warning of Arayik of Harutyunian, made a statement saying that "A few more days and I am afraid that even archaeologists will not be able to find the place of Ganja. Get sober before it is too late."[17] According to Human Rights Watch, threats of attacks on unspecified targets over an unspecified period, in a language few Azerbaijani civilians can read, were not effective warnings.[8]

Trilateral talks on the conflict between the foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan commenced on 9 October 2020 in Moscow.[18] Sergey Lavrov, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, and Jeyhun Bayramov participated in the talks.[19] Lavrov issued a joint statement following ten hours of talks that ended at 03:00 local time,[20] confirming that a humanitarian ceasefire would come into force at midday.[21][22] Minutes after the truce was due to commence, the two parties blamed each other for violating the ceasefire.[23] Azerbaijan underlined that the ceasefire was temporary and emphasized that it would not renege on its goal to retake control of the region.[24]

Attacks

First attack

Ganja was first hit by a missile on 4 October.[1][2] Azerbaijan accused Armenia of the attack, which it denied.[25] Artsakh denied targeting residential areas, but rather military targets, especially Ganja International Airport,[26] and Arayik Harutyunyan, the president of the de facto Republic of Artsakh, claimed that military facilities permanently located there had been targeting civilians in Stepanakert using Polonez and Smerch missiles;[14] Azerbaijan denied reports of there being military targets in the city.[27] Subsequently, both a correspondent reporting from the scene for a Russian media outlet and the airport director denied that the airport, which had not been operational since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[28] had been hit while an Irish journalist, Orla Guerin visited the scene and found no evidence of any military target there.[29]

According to Human Rights Watch, two residential buildings, one of them a multi-family structure, were destroyed and about 30 houses were damaged on Ali Nizami Street.[8] As a result of the attack, one civilian was killed, while 30 were injured.[30]

Second attack

Ganja was again hit on 8 October. No civilian casualties were reported, but a number of residential buildings and a school were damaged.[3][8]

Third attack

A day after the ceasefire signed on 10 October, at 02:00 local time the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence stated that Armenian armed forces in Berd, Armenia,[31] had fired upon Ganja[32] with a Scud missile;[33] the missile hit an apartment building,[34][35] completely destroying it.[36][37] Search and rescue teams shortly afterwards arrived at the scene.[38] During the attack, significant infrastructure in the city was completely destroyed,[39][40] including 31 apartment buildings,[41] and structures and vehicles in the vicinity of the explosion were seriously damaged.[42] The attack affected 205 people in a total of 95 apartments;[41] The attack killed ten people,[43] and 40 were injured, with women and children among the victims.[44] Armenia denied the responsibility of the Armenian forces for the attack, calling it an "absolute lie."[4][7]

Human Rights Watch confirmed that Armenian forces had fired a Scud-B ballistic missile that detonated in a residential neighbourhood, killing 10 civilians and wounding 34 others. It observed a massive crater and more than 20 damaged or destroyed buildings in the area, behind a row of multi-story commercial buildings.[8]

Fourth attack

On 17 October, at approximately 01:00 local time, Azerbaijani authorities stated that Armenian forces had fired Scud missiles[45] at Ganja;[46][47] journalists reported three powerful explosions in the city.[48] According to a RIA Novosti correspondent, the missiles struck densely populated residential areas of the city, leveling several rows of residential and other buildings,[49][50] the first being less than two kilometers (1.2mi) away from the city hall[51] and the second in Kapaz District in the east of the city.[52] Vasily Polonsky, a "Dozhd" correspondent, stated that there were no military bases and important targets near the places struck by the missiles.[53] According to local authorities, approximately 20 houses were destroyed,[54] trapping many civilians under the rubble.[55] Search and rescue teams of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations and servicemen of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense arrived at the scene[56] and called in sniffer dogs[57] to rescue the wounded and recover the dead; Armenia denied responsibility for the attack.[58]

Ruins of Ganja after the attacks.

As a result of the attack, 15 civilians were killed, including a 13-year-old Russian citizen,[6] and 55 were injured.[59][5]

Human Rights Watch confirmed that Armenian forces had used Scud-B ballistic missiles on two residential neighbourhoods in Ganja at about 1 a.m., killing 21 civilians, including five who had died of their wounds after the attack. They observed 10 houses destroyed and over 20 damaged at the site. Almost simultaneously with the attack, a second Scud-B missile hit another neighbourhood in the city. The attack destroyed or left uninhabitable 15 family homes and damaged 40 to 50 others. Human Rights Watch observed a large crater and dozens of damaged or destroyed residential buildings and munition remnants scattered at the blast site.[8]

Azerbaijani response

On 14 October, Azerbaijan stated that it had retaliated for the third attack, claiming the destruction of operational-tactical missile systems in the occupied Kalbajar District, under Artsakh's control.[10][60] According to Azerbaijan, the missile launchers had been targeting Ganja and Mingachevir. Armenia confirmed that sites within Armenia had been struck while continuing to deny it had attacked Azerbaijan.[61]

Three days later, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev stated that Azerbaijani forces had retaliated for the fourth attack, seizing control of Fuzuli and several villages within the district of the same name.[62]

Reactions

The attacks were strongly condemned by the Azerbaijani government, which labeled the third attack "an act of genocide against the Azerbaijani people we have witnessed since the Khojaly Massacre".[9] Aliyev described the third attack as a war crime and a "gross" violation of the ceasefire, promising a "befitting retaliation".[63] He also described the fourth attack as a war crime and promised to retaliate,[64] adding that Azerbaijan would "punish" Armenia if the international community did not react,[65] while the Azerbaijani ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva accused Armenia of supporting terrorism.[66]

Internationally, the third and fourth attacks were condemned by Turkey,[67] which described the latter as a war crime.[68] The Qatari,[69] Malay,[70] Swiss[71] and British[72] ambassadors to Azerbaijan expressed their condolences for the third attack, while the European Union condemned the fourth attack[73] and UN Secretary-General António Guterres described it as unacceptable.[74] Artsakh authorities, who had called for Ganja to be evacuated, published a list mentioning military targets within the city.[75]

On 16 October, Azerbaijanis, Iranian Azerbaijanis, and Turks living in the United Kingdom gathered in front of Amnesty International's London headquarters and held a protest rally, condemning the Armenian Armed Forces’ shelling of residential areas and civilians in Ganja, Mingachevir, Tartar, and other regions.[76] The next day, Azerbaijani Americans held a rally in Chicago, condemning the ballistic missile attacks.[77] The following day, British Azerbaijanis commemorated those killed during the attacks in front of the Azerbaijani embassy in London,[78] while Georgian Azerbaijanis held a rally in front of the Parliament Building in Tbilisi.[79] The same day, Russian Azerbaijanis dedicated part of the entrance of Azerbaijan's embassy to Russia in Moscow to the memory of the victims of the 17 October attack.[80]

On November 23, Aziz Sancar, a Nobel laureate in chemistry from Turkey, transferred a significant amount of money to a specially created bank account to cover the future education expenses of Khadija Shahnazarova, a toddler who lost both her parents in the 17 October attack.[81]

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