President attends ceremony commemorating Khojaly tragedy victims - UPDATE
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban Aliyeva attended the commemorative ceremony on the 24th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.
A guard of honor was arranged near the memorial. President Ilham Aliyev put a wreath at the monument.
Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Milli Majlis Speaker Ogtay Asadov, head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, Azerbaijan`s first lady Mehriban Aliyeva put flowers at the monument.
The commemorative ceremony was attended by state and government officials, MPs, ministers, heads of committees and companies, leaders of religious confessions, as well as Khojaly genocide survivors.
Thousands of Baku residents arrived at the Khojaly memorial on February 26 to pay tribute to victims of the genocide.
Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces in 1992.
As many as 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown.
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