Armenian troops never thought we’d block their movement so fast – liberators of Azerbaijani Shusha

Two years have passed since the liberation of Azerbaijan’s Shusha city by the valiant Azerbaijani army under the leadership of President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, Trend reports on November 9.

As Colonel Jeyhun Baghirov, a participant of the city’s liberation operation, reminded, on September 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani army launched a counter-offensive operation in order to suppress the military activity of the Armenian armed forces, which committed provocations along the entire front line.

Liberating the settlements of the country one by one from the Armenian occupation, the Azerbaijani soldiers reached the outskirts of Shusha.

“The probability of the Armenian armed forces’ attack was in two directions: the first – the Lachin corridor, and the second – Khankandi. Our engineering and sapper group successfully completed the task of blocking the roads from these directions,” the colonel said. “Armenian armed forces never could guess that we would block their way so quickly. They made several attempts to attack, but their military equipment and manpower were destroyed on the spot.”

According to Lieutenant Ali Valiyev, he participated in the liberation of several districts from the occupation and his last battle was in the Shusha direction.

“We went through some heavy battles, but managed to liberate Shusha. During this period, I was seriously injured. Moving towards Shusha at night with ten soldiers, we came across 30 Armenian soldiers, and got into a gunfight. Although they outnumbered us, we forced them to retreat,” Valiyev said.

Ensign Hasankhan Mammadov also participated in battles from the first days of the war, including the Shusha operation.

“The main goal was to liberate Shusha from the Armenian occupation. Heavy fighting took place in the Topkhana forest near the city. During the fighting, the Armenian armed forces’ reconnaissance unit was destroyed,” Mammadov recalled.

Extra-conscript Ghadir Rustamov also shared his memories about the operation to liberate the city.

“When we received the order that our goal was to liberate Shusha, I was very happy. There were very heavy battles in the Shusha direction. I was injured in Dashalty village near Shusha and was evacuated. I’m very proud that I participated in the liberation of our lands from occupation,” Rustamov said.