Armenia: Residents of Vardenis border region recall deadly night attack

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One civilian from the Vardenis region in Armenia died as a result of a fire from nearby Azerbaijan, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on September 29.

On Thursday, Ruptly was able to visit the site, talk to the residents and witness the burial ceremony of the deceased man.

"Last night at about 01:30 we visited our deceased guy. Heard the shots. Ran out. Our community lies about 20 kilometres (12.43 miles) away from the village. We saw in the sky that someone was shooting. Saw the light. Our Air Defence reacted immediately. Shot down the rocket," explained Ararat Makiyan, resident of Pokr Masrik village.

Another local from Kut village Armen told Ruptly that his son "was injured in the performance of the duty." Armen himself said he was ready to protect his village despite various illnesses.

According to a herdsman from Kut, the aim of the attack was the railroad.

"I didn't hear the sound. It [an aircraft] came from that side, bombed and left. It wanted to strike the railroad. We drove children out of the village and stayed here ourselves. We stayed to protect the village, the motherland", - he underlined.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry published a post on its Facebook account saying "Azeri Air Force strike military and civil infrastructure of Vardenis region targeting civilians. As a result of the attack, one civilian died."

On Wednesday, the Azeri side claimed three people died as a result of shellfire in the Tartar region. The General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan claimed the shell remains fell near the district court building on Heydar Aliyev Prospect in the city of Tartar.

Fighting in the disputed region broke out on Sunday when Azeri and ethnic Armenian soldiers exchanged fire. It's been the heaviest clashes in the region since 2016 with dozens of casualties reported. Both sides blame each other for the escalation, imposed martial law, and announced mobilisation.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but has an independent government led by a majority group of ethnic Armenians.
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