Armenia accused Azerbaijan on Thursday of shelling a historic cathedral in the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where nearly two weeks of heavy fighting has killed hundreds of people, reports AP.
The Holy Savior Cathedral, also known as the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, had its dome pierced by a shell that also damaged the interior.
Media reports said some children were inside the cathedral in the town of Shusha at the time of the shelling, and although they were not wounded, they suffered from stress after the attack.
Hours later, the cathedral came under more shelling that wounded two Russian journalists, one of whom was hospitalized in grave condition, according to Armenian officials.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry denounced the shelling as a monstrous crime and a challenge to the civilized humankind, warning Azerbaijan that targeting religious sites amounts to a war crime. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry denied attacking the cathedral, saying its army doesn't target historical, cultural and, especially, religious buildings and monuments.
A priest at the cathedral, who identified himself only as Father Andreas, expressed anguish over the attack.
I feel the pain that the walls of our beautiful cathedral are destroyed, he said. I feel the pain that today the world does not react to what's happening here and that our boys are dying defending our Motherland.
Built in the 19th century, the cathedral suffered significant damage during ethnic violence in 1920. It was restored after fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the 1990s and is part of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The latest outburst of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began Sept. 27 and mark the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The region lies in Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.
Following a series of calls with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian President Vladimir Putin late Thursday proposed a cease-fire to allow the parties to exchange prisoners and collect the dead bodies.
The Kremlin said that foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were invited to Moscow on Friday for consultations to discuss the truce. Armenian and Azerbaijan officials had no immediate comment on the Russian proposal.
