12 Dead, 40 Injured As Missile Levels Azerbaijan city

Not less than 12 persons lost their lives when a missile strike rocked Azerbaijan’s second city of Ganja on Saturday.

Reports have it that 40 people were injured in their sleep during the crisis over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The latest incident occurred hours after Azerbaijani forces shelled the ethnic Armenian separatist region’s capital Stepanakert.

The counterattack seems to have marred international efforts to quench the crisis between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis before it draws in regional powers Russia and Turkey.

AFP team in Ganjo reported that rows of houses became levelled, shattering the walls and ripping the roofs of building in the surrounding areas.

Many people ran out of their homes in shock and tears as they walked through dark muddy alleys in their slippers, bathroom robes and pyjamas.

“We were sleeping. The kids were watching TV,” Rubaba Zhafarova, 65, said in front of her destroyed home.

“All the houses around here are destroyed. Many people are under the rubble. Some are dead, some are wounded.”