The Armenian Armed Forces committed genocide against Azerbaijani civilians in the Balligaya village of the Goranboy district 29 years ago, Trend reports.

On August 28, 1992, the Armenians exterminated 24 members of seven families from the Lachin district in Balligaya’s Gulustan forest in one night. At five o'clock in the morning, a sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces of 9-12 people shelled a tent where Azerbaijanis were staying. As a result, 24 people were killed and nine injured.

The tragedy in the Garadaghly village of the Khojavand district was the result of the genocide policy that the Armenians have been pursuing. On February 26, the Khojaly genocide was committed.

Recalling what happened in Balligaya, Azerbaijani Vazir Humbatov, who lost six children and his wife, told Trend that after the occupation of Lachin on May 17, 1992, the last families who lived in high-mountain villages began to leave. The men, among whom was Vazir Humbatov, went to the Barda district to find a place for temporary residence. When they returned, they saw the aftermath of a massacre. The tent in which his family lived was burned down. He collected the remains of his wife and six children in the ashes and buried them at the cemetery in the village of Gulluja, Aghdam district.

For 29 years, he could not visit the grave in which his wife and children are buried, and he visited it for the first time this year.

The man expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani army and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief for this opportunity. He noted that the Azerbaijani army avenged the death of his relatives.

On the night of the Balligaya tragedy, Sahib and Binnat Mehdiyev were in the Ganja city hospital. When they returned, six of their family members were no longer alive.

Yunis Mehdiyev also survived the tragedy in Balligaya. On that night, four members of his family - a 67-year-old mother, a 39-year-old brother, wife and a 36-year-old sister - became victims of Armenian atrocities. Only three children of his brother Rahbar survived.

Three of the victims of the genocide - Abdulla Abdullayev (born in 1934), his children - Farman and Saadat are buried in the cemetery in the village of Garademirchi in Barda.

Trend.az