Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan will inform international groups of the brutal murder of a 13-year-old girl by Armenians, a presidential aide has said.
"All international organizations and parties to the peace process [the ongoing talks to settle the Nagorno Karabakh conflict] will be informed about this incident. We will expose the statements by Armenia, which presents its armed forces as ‘angels’," Ali Hasanov told the Baku-based Trend news agency.

Aygun Shahmaliyeva, a resident of a village in the western Tovuz region bordering on arch-foe Armenia, was killed on Thursday by a toy with a built-in explosive floated by Armenians through a river. The girl’s 32-year-old mother, Elnara Shahmaliyeva, received a severe thigh injury.

The toy was dropped by Armenians into the Tovuz River flowing through the Alibayli village. Aygun took the toy out of the water and brought it home, and was killed while playing with it after the explosive went off.

Hasanov said the killing once again revealed "the true face" of the Armenians and showed the barbaric methods they use.

"War has its rules. But planting explosives in a child's toy and dropping it to a river that flows through a village is nothing but an example of savagery and atrocity," Hasanov said.

Hasanov emphasized that the Armenians have recently committed a number of such barbaric acts. He recalled a similar incident in 1994 when two small children were killed and another was wounded by the explosion of another toy floated through the river, as well as the murder of a nine-year boy by an Armenian sniper this March.

"All this shows how much Armenia stands in the way of peace, truce and tranquil living of people in the South Caucasus," Hasanov said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war in the early 1990s. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including the Nagorno Karabakh region, has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks, brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the OSCE Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.

Prosecutor-General’s Office spokesman Eldar Sultanov said a criminal case has been launched over the killing of the Azerbaijani child.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov said Friday the child killing was a "terror act". He said Azerbaijan denounces this sinister act by Armenia, adding that such actions deal a blow upon confidence-building between the parties to the Karabakh conflict at such a "sensitive" period of time.

"We call on the world community to condemn the actions by Armenia, which has already murdered and maimed thousands of innocent Azerbaijani children… Such actions do nothing but give the name of a child killer to Armenia."

Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kilic has issued a statement vehemently condemning the atrocious murder.