Baku, Azerbaijan, September 1
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
Cluster bombs, which have been used since World War II to kill and maim indiscriminately, were outlawed under an international treaty that was adopted in 2008, said an article published in The New York Times.
The Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor’s report released in Geneva Sept. 1 found that the weapons continued to be used with near impunity in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, as well as during the armed clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, said the article.
On the night of April 2 all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which still holds Azerbaijan's lands under occupation. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
The Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor’s report found “strong but unconfirmed evidence” that cluster munitions had been used in April during the escalation of the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region occupied by Armenia.
Azerbaijan has been saying that ammunition prohibited by international conventions was used by the Armenian side.
Meanwhile, a military source from the zone of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict told Interfax-Azerbaijan agency that Armenia used anti-personnel cluster bombs or its Chinese analogue against the Azerbaijani armed forces.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.