Azerbaijan shells two Armenian settlements, killing, wounding civilians

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan on Thursday, October 1 fired a missile from the strike drone on Mets Masrik community of Gegharkunik province, Armenia, which left resident Gevorg Vardanyan (b. 1937) killed and two other civilians injured.

Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said the Azerbaijani army opened artillery fire on the village of Shatvan in Gegharkunik.

The air defense forces destroyed three Azerbaijani drones, including the one that fired a missile on Mets Masrik.

The two settlements are situated close to a highway that earlier came under Azeri fire too. The town of Vardenis nearby was shelled on September 29, which resulted in civilian casualty.

Azerbaijan launched a major offensive against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27, shelling Armenian positions and civilian settlements with large caliber weapons and rocket systems. Armenia and Karabakh have introduced martial law and total mobilization. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. On September 29, the Azerbaijani army began shelling positions and civilian settlements in Armenia, which resulted in civilian casualty. On October 1, a group of local and international journalists came under Azerbaijan's shelling of civilian settlements. Some of them have sustained injuries, civilian casualty was reported.