1994 Bagratashen bombing

Overview

On September 4, 1994, an explosion tore through the market in Bagratashen, a village in Armenia's Tavush province on the border with Georgia, not far from Azerbaijan. 14 people were killed — including the two individuals identified as the perpetrators — and 46 more were injured. Initial reports in the immediate aftermath understated the toll, citing only 10 deaths and 26 injuries.

Location and context

Bagratashen sits near Sadakhlo, a large, predominantly Azerbaijani-populated village of about 10,000 people located on the Georgian side of the border. During the 1990s, in the years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, this border area was described as "a center of mafia gangs dealing particularly in black-market fuel." This illicit trade was fueled in part by Armenia's economic isolation: the country was under embargo from Azerbaijan, and the Armenian-Turkish border had been closed since 1993 amid the conflict with Azerbaijan. At the time, Armenia and Azerbaijan were engaged in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

The perpetrators

The bombing is attributed to two ethnic Azerbaijani men: Imran Huseinov, from Baku, and Turkmen Jafarov, from the village of Bula in Georgia's Marneuli Municipality. Both men died in the explosion along with the market victims.

The device

Local officials stated that the explosive device had been concealed inside a briefcase. The resulting blast affected a wide area of the market.