Military official: Armenia's recently-destroyed missiles could have reached Baku

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Chief of Staff of the Azerbaijani Air Force, Deputy Commander Ikram Aliyev has said that Armenian missiles systems that were ready for launch and were destroyed by Azerbaijani forces on October 13, had the capacity to reach Baku.

On October 13, Azerbaijan’s armed forces destroyed ready for launch ballistic missiles of Armenia in start position in the border area of occupied Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan with Armenia.

“If these missile systems were not destroyed yesterday, then these missiles could reach Baku,” Aliyev said.

Ikram Aliyev said that the firing range of the missile complex is 50-300 km, stressing that such missile is capable of destroying combat equipment and manpower on the territory up to 1 hectare.

"Two operational-tactical missile systems which were brought to the front positions were destroyed by an accurate strike at 01:00 on October 14 and one Elbrus missile launcher was destroyed at 08:30 morning,” Aliyev said.

Aliyev stressed that the Azerbaijani army has started special operations against the missile launchers and the infrastructure supporting them, adding that such ballistic missiles and launchers would be detected and destroyed on the spot before the launch of the missiles.

Earlier, Presidential Aide Hikmat Hajiyev said that by destroying Armenia’s ballistic missiles, Azerbaijan prevented human catastrophy planned by Armenia and saved lives of many civilians.

Armenian armed forces launched a large-scale operation in the front-line zone on September 27 at 6 am, shelling the positions of the Azerbaijani army from large-calibre weapons, mortars, and artillery installations of various calibres. Armenia has been targeting Azerbaijan’s densely populated areas and infrastructure projects.

Forty-three civilians have been killed and 214 others have been injured since the outbreak of large-scale hostilities on September 27, after Armenia launched another attack along the line of contact. As a result of the shelling of civilian infrastructure facilities by the occupying country's armed forces, 1,505 houses and 66 multi-apartment residential buildings, as well as 277 civilian facilities were severely damaged.