Two people, including an employee of the Ministry of National Security (MNS), were killed and five wounded on April 6 in the Azerbaijani city of Ganja, the country's second-largest city, during an operation by Azerbaijan’s law-enforcement agencies against suspected religious extremists. Police have blocked off the site in question, and residents of neighboring houses have been evacuated.
Ministry of National Security spokesperson Arif Babayev told EurasiaNet.org over the phone that “the operation against terrorists in Ganja is not over yet.” Babayev did not provide more details, but said that the ministry will issue an official statement in the evening.
Turan news agency reported that an explosion this morning in the residential area of Mahrasa Bagi in Ganja had killed two people. Unnamed local sources in the city told the agency that a suicide bomber with a grenade or explosives-laden belt had committed the act.
The Ministry of National Security’s involvement in the events in Ganja underlines the claim of terrorism, rather than an otherwise-explicable event. If the suicide-bomber version is confirmed, the explosion would rank as the first case of an attack by a suicide-bomber in Azerbaijan.
Local news wires, quoting unnamed sources in law enforcement agencies, report that the MNS was taking action against religious extremists (termed “Wahhabis”), originally from Azerbaijan’s northern Qakh region, who had rented an apartment in Ganja.
During the detention operation, one of the targeted individuals allegedly blew himself up, killing MNS Lieutenant-Colonel Elshad Guliyev in the process. The five people wounded included law-enforcement officers. The victims’ bodies have been flown to Baku by helicopter, the MNS said.
Ganja’s police department confirmed to news site Vesti.az that the incident happened during an operation against an illegal armed group, which allegedly was preparing a terrorist attack.
MNS spokesperson Babayev also confirmed media reports that four people had been detained in another special operation conducted in the northwest Zagatala region.
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