Two teenagers killed in Armenian attacks: Azerbaijan

BAKU

Two teenagers have died in Armenian attacks on civilian settlements, Azerbaijani authorities said.

Armenian forces fired missiles and artillery shells towards the areas of Goranboy and Tartar, according to Azerbaijan’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office.

A 16-year-old Azerbaijani boy identified as Orhan Ismayilzade died when an Armenian missile struck his house, the authority said in a statement.

The other victim was Artur Mayakov, a 13-year-old Russian citizen.

He was injured in the Oct. 17 Armenian missile attack on the city of Ganja and succumbed to his injuries in hospital, according to Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to Azerbaijan’s president.

Azerbaijan also shot down an Armenian warplane on Oct. 24, the country’s Defense Ministry said.

A statement said the Armenian combat aircraft was flying over Azerbaijani positions in the Gubadli direction of the front.

The ministry did not mention the type or model of the plane and said it was shot down on Oct. 24 afternoon.

A separate statement said an Armenian drone was destroyed in the Aghdere region.

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attempted to carry out a flight in the direction of the Aghdere region and was shot down at about 15:25, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s separate discussions at the State Department with his counterparts from Armenia and Azerbaijan on Oct. 23 failed to produce an agreement to halt the ongoing fighting over Karabakh.

The State Department said in a statement shortly after Pompeo met with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov that during the discussions the top U.S. diplomat “emphasized the need to end the violence and protect civilians,” but did not announce an agreement.

“The Secretary also stressed the importance of the sides entering substantive negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to resolve the conflict based on the Helsinki Final Act principles of the non-use or threat of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples,” spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

The OSCE Minsk Group refers to a trilateral organization co-chaired by France, the US and Russia that was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Pompeo later said that during his meetings he discussed “critical steps to halt the violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” without specifying.

“Both must implement a ceasefire and return to substantive negotiations,” he said on Twitter.

Asked earlier this week if the US would broker a ceasefire during the talks, Pompeo demurred, saying “it’s a complicated situation on the ground. It’s a complicated diplomatic situation.”