Karabakh exodus grows after offensive, as fuel depot blast toll rises to 20

Lachin Corridor, Azerbaijan – AFP

Thousands more Armenians left Nagorno-Karabakh as officials in Azerbaijan’s war-scarred separatist statelet raised the death toll from a fuel blast to 20.

The number of deaths from Monday’s fuel depot blast threatened to grow much higher because dozens were being treated in critical condition and many remained unaccounted for.

Most of the victims were stocking up on fuel for the trip down the Lachin Corridor connecting the impoverished and historically disputed region with Armenia.

Yerevan has raised alarm over allegedly possible “ethnic cleansing” by Azerbaijan after Baku claimed full control of the region in a lightning offensive last week.

Armenians and Azerbaijanis have fought two wars over the mountainous territory since the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The area is now populated by up to 120,000 ethnic Armenians but is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Armenia said on Tuesday that more than 13,000 refugees had fled since the first group arrived in the country on Sunday.

An investigative team of journalists along the Lachin Corridor saw hundreds of cars piled high with belongings moving slowly along the jam-packed road.

Some of the vehicles crept along on flat tyres and many people simply walked past the last Azerbaijani checkpoint.

– Fears of higher toll –

The separatist government on Tuesday claimed 13 bodies were found at the scene of a fuel depot blast on Monday and seven more people had died of their injuries.

It said 290 people had been hospitalized and “dozens of patients remain in critical condition”.

Armenia’s health ministry said it had sent a team of doctors to the rebel stronghold of Stepanakert by helicopter.

The Azerbaijani presidency said Baku had also sent medicine to help the wounded.

Envoys from Baku and Yerevan were in Brussels on Tuesday to pave the way for the first meeting between their leaders since last week’s offensive on October 5.

– Chaos –

Azerbaijan’s operation on September 19 to seize control of the territory forced the separatists to lay down their arms under the terms of a ceasefire agreed the following day.

The separatists have claimed that 200 people were killed in last week’s fighting.

Azerbaijan’s state media on Monday said officials held a second round of peace talks with Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian community aimed at “reintegrating” them.

The question of staying or leaving is now tormenting many ethnic Armenian Christian families.

Some say that they cannot live under the authority of Muslim Azerbaijanis, while others argue that leaving now means that Armenians might never be able to return, losing the region for good.

“If I do have a chance to come back, I will,” said Khachatur Aydinyan, a 62-year-old shepherd.

“I am sad to leave my sheep behind.”