Today marks the 31st anniversary of a massacre committed by Armenians during the occupation of Kalbajar region's Bashlibel village in 1993, Ednews reports.

As a result of this crime, the villagers were tortured and slain in large numbers, including children, women, disabled persons, and the old, and some were even burned alive.

62 villagers took refuge in a cave to escape during Armenia's occupation of Bashlibel village, but when the Armenians discovered their location, they assaulted and massacred them.

Following the liberation of the Kalbajar region from occupation, the Azerbaijani side uncovered a location near the cave where the corpses of those ruthlessly slaughtered by Armenian armed forces were buried by their fellow villagers. Those mass-murdered residents' bodies were exhumed, identified, and buried separately.

The surviving witnesses' testimonies also confirm that there were hostages among the population during the Bashlibel massacre, and some are still missing.

During the occupation, historical, cultural, and religious objects in Bashlibel, one of the oldest and largest villages in the Kalbajar region, were destroyed.