Even though it has been several days since the last time when the Azerbaijani armed forces had opened fire toward Mataghis village in Martakert Region of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh), the women, children, and the elderly have not yet returned to the village (PHOTOS).

The first time when the adversary shelled Mataghis was on April 2, at around 6:30am. At first, the men in the village had thought that these were ordinary shootings. But once the first shell had fallen, people went down to their cellars and waited it out there. Women, children and the elderly were evacuated sometime thereafter.

The village prefect was wounded at that time, but he already will return to Mataghis in a few days. Incidentally, despite the heavy shelling, he is the only one in the village to have sustained an injury. The villagers say he survived by a miracle.

The Mataghis residents told the visiting Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter that they did not expect the Azerbaijanis to shell their village. They said they were living a normal life ever since the signing of the ceasefire agreement in 1994, and were not thinking about leaving. Some refuse to leave their homes even today.

Village resident Roza Danielyan, for example, solely relocated her grandchildren on the first day of the shelling, and then she and her daughter returned to Mataghis.

“I will not go anywhere; I’ll stay here, help our [military] servicemen,” Danielyan said. “We will go forward, not back.”