Capture of Garadaghly

The Capture of Garadaghly (Qaradağlı qətliamı) occurred when Armenian troops captured Garadaghly, a village in Khojavend district of Azerbaijan, on 17 February 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. More than 20 civilians were killed and many taken prisoner.

Preceding events
In June 1991 an Armenian armed attack took place which resulted in the death of six civilians from Garadaghly.

The assault
The assault began at 5 am on 17 February 1992. The battle continued for 11 hours and resulted in the capture of Garadaghly by Armenian troops. Arabo and Aramo units and units of Monte Melkonian took part in the operation against the orders of Melkonian, who commanded "that no captives were to be harmed". According to Azerbaijani sources 117 Azerbaijani civilians were taken prisoner and around 56 to 90 civilians were killed. Survivors fled to Agdam through the mountains.

The ITAR-TASS news agency reported, quoting the Azerbaijani Popular Front's information center, that "more than 20 people were killed and 15 wounded" when Armenian militants captured the village and forced the residents to flee to a nearby forest.

According to Markar Melkonian, the fighters from Arabo and Aramo units gathered thirty-eight Azerbaijani captives, including several women and other noncombatants, in a ditch on the outskirts of the village. One of the captives in the ditch tossed a grenade, injuring one of the captors. The Arabo and Aramo fighters who had already wished to ""avenge" the death of another comrade the day before", "began stabbing and shooting their captives", until they all were dead. One of the Armenian fighters doused several wounded Azerbaijani soldiers with gasoline and burned them alive. In the words of Melkonian, the ditch became a "butcher's scrap heap". According to Melkonian, "a total of fifty-three Azeris were killed in and around Karadaghlu within two days, compared to three killed on the Armenian side, including a sixty-year-old villager" who was hit by a stray bullet.

Names of the prisoners
The names of the prisoners according to the Azerbaijani news agency Musavat:
 * Veten Aliyev
 * Zakir Aliyev
 * Nasir Amrahov
 * Hafiz Akhundov
 * Fuzuli Veliyev
 * Abulfat Huseynov
 * Mikayil Dadashov
 * Firdovsi Kerimov
 * Malik Mustafayev

Aftermath
According to Azerbaijani news agencies after the capture, the defense minister Tajeddin Mehdiyev was fired. Many letters had been sent by Azerbaijan to the United Nations, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Red Cross condemning the killing of Azerbaijani civilians.