BAKU, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 civilians were killed and 40 others wounded when Armenian armed forces fired missiles into Azerbaijan's second largest city of Ganja, according to Azerbaijan's law enforcement authorities on Saturday.
"The ballistic missiles have been fired from the territory of Armenia," said Hikmat Hajiyev, assistant to the Azerbaijani president, adding that Ganja is located far from the conflict zone.
Emergency crews are still searching through the rubble as more people are feared trapped. Azerbaijan's prosecutor general and minister of emergencies were at the scene.
Artsrun Hovhannisyan, spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, denied the attack and accused Baku of continuing to shell some areas inside Nagorno-Karabakh, including Stepanakert, the major city of the mountainous region.
"At dawn, Azerbaijani forces once again violated the humanitarian ceasefire by resuming shelling in the direction of peaceful settlements," said Hovhannisyan on Twitter.
On Oct. 11, Azerbaijan also accused Armenia of violating a ceasefire by attacking Ganja and resulting in heavy civilian casualties. The Armenian Defense Ministry denied the attack, telling local media that it was false information.
A new round of armed conflict broke out on Sept. 27 along the contact line of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The clashes reportedly caused heavy casualties and property losses.
The two countries agreed on a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh region starting Oct. 10 noon, following lengthy negotiations in Moscow on Oct. 9.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads over the Nagorno-Karabakh region since 1988. Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a ceasefire was reached, but there still have been sporadic minor clashes. Enditem
