Both Armenia and Azerbaijan Actively Targeting Civilians – Cluster Munitions Used on Cities
The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has taken a more vicious turn as both sides have started to actively target each other’s civilian centers. Footage shows both the Armenians and the Azeris are resorting to indiscriminate shelling.
At this time which side initiated the attacks is undetermined, but on 4 October, Arayik Harutyunyan, the President of the Artsakh Republic and which is made up of the contested territories, stated that their cities had come under attack and that retaliation would follow. He called on the “…Azerbaijani population to leave these cities to avoid inevitable loss.”
Civilians on both sides are being forced to take cover in bunkers and basements due to the nature of the shelling, with a Russia news team capturing the bombardment of the Azeri town of Terter:
Disturbingly a static camera caught the use of notoriously indiscriminate cluster munitions, probably from artillery rockets systems, being used against the Armenian city of Stepanakert by the Azeri’s:
The attacks are causing more destruction day by day, with footage of cities on both sides bearing the brunt:
Even though the protagonists are providing ample propaganda opportunities for the other, still misinformation is being deliberately spread. An Armenian BM-30 “Smerch” rocket motor impacting beside a power plant in the city of Ganja led to outrage from the Azeri government:
The warhead on these missiles detach, hence the appearance of the discarded motors across the warzone. This has been used as evidence of deliberate attacks on civilian targets, which seems bizarre when it is untrue and there are actually attacks occurring on civilian targets for which there is ample evidence.
Both sides seem to be favouring the use of long range Multiple Rocket Launcher (MRL) systems, principally variants of the 9K58/9A52-2 (NATO code BM 30). These weapons have a range of between 70 and 120kms and are capable of carrying dispenser, HE-Frag or thermobaric warheads of about 250kgs.