Azerbaijan's Aliyev calls shelling of Ganja 'war crime,' vows 'response on battlefield'

Azerbaij President Ilham Aliyev has qualified the shelling of the country's second-largest city of Ganja as a war crime, saying that those responsible will get a "response on the battlefield."

In the early hours of Saturday, the Azerbaij authorities said that the cities of Ganja and Mingecevir had come under rocket fire amid the further escalation of tensions in conflict-torn Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the emergency services, 13 bodies have been recovered from the rubble in the wake of the attack.

The Armenian Defense Ministry maintains that its military has not shelled Azerbaij territory.

"This is a war crime, a crime against humty. If the international community does not want to punish them, we will punish the perpetrators. We will punish [them] on the battlefield and give a response," Aliyev said in his address to the nation on Saturday. (/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )

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