Armenian forces hit Azerbaijan's cotton factory

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Armenian forces on Monday, in violation of the new humanitarian cease-fire, shelled a cotton receiving and processing factory in Azerbaijan's western Terter region.

As a result of the heavy artillery attack, the factory in Azadgaragoyunlu village caught fire, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

Local authorities have not yet shared any information on casualties.

The fire continues in the warehouse section of the factory, while fire brigades arrived at the scene, taking measures to extinguish the fire.

Artillery fire from the Armenian side intensely continues in the region, and no one is allowed to approach the area due to the attacks.

A new cease-fire -- the second since hostilities around Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, began on Sept. 27 -- was announced on Saturday, and went into effect at midnight (2000GMT).

It was reached between Baku and Yerevan after the Oct. 10 truce -- agreed upon by Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Russian foreign ministers in a trilateral meeting in Moscow to allow an exchange of prisoners and recovery of bodies -- but was breached hours later by Armenian missile attacks on Azerbaijan's second-largest city Ganja.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

Some 20% of Azerbaijan's territory has remained under the Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

Many world powers have urged cessation of hostilities. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defense, and demanded the withdrawal of the invading forces.