Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan says civilian killed in Ganja

Azerbaijani and Armenian forces have exchanged heavy rocket and artillery fire, with each side accusing the other of targeting civilian areas as the fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh intensified. Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said on Sunday one civilian was killed and four wounded in an Armenian rocket attack on its second city of Ganja, and Baku threatened to retaliate by destroying military targets inside Armenia. Armenia denied it had directed fire “of any kind” towards Azerbaijan. The leader of Nagorno-Karabakh said his forces had targeted a military airbase in Ganja but later stopped firing in order to avoid civilian casualties. In statements posted on its website earlier, Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said Ganja and several other civilian areas were being attacked using rockets and shelling. “Azerbaijan will destroy military targets directly inside Armenia from which shelling of its population centres is taking place,” presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said, adding that there were civilian casualties in Beylagan, which borders Nagorno-Karabakh. Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Ganja, said: “People here are telling us that approximately an hour after a rocket landed, a second hit another residential area a few blocks away, wounding two people.” Earlier, Armenian officials said Nagorno-Karabakh’s main city of Stepanakert, which has been under shelling since Friday, was struck again. Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Stepanakert, said the city has been under intense bombardment since early on Sunday morning. “Air-raid sirens wailed across this city as a barrage of rockets and mortars rained down,” he said. “There has been considerable damage on the buildings in the city centre,” added Smith, calling it “a very difficult day for the people of Stepanakert”. “People were unable to go out. They are hiding in the bomb shelters. Civilians are on the receiving end of this bombardment.” Azerbaijani authorities said they had taken “retaliatory measures” after rocket fire from Stepanakert. Separately, the Azerbaijani defence ministry said Armenian armed forces were firing rockets at the towns of Terter and Horadiz in the Fizuli region. Late on Sunday, Azeri presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said Armenian forces had launched a missile attack against the industrial city of Mingachevir. “Mingachevir hosts water reservoir and key electricity plant. Barbaric expression of desperation,” Hajiyev said on Twitter. Defence officials in Nagorno-Karabakh denied targeting the city. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">