Colonel Tehran Mansimov: Armenians Left 730 Corpses in Shusha, on Outskirts

Baku/30.01.21/Turan: The liberation of Shusha took place primarily thanks to the heroism of the special troops of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Colonel Tehran Mansimov, the commander of the combined special forces brigade, who led the operation, told about this in an interview with Asan-Radio.

The order to start the operation to liberate Shusha came in mid-October, when battles were raging in Hadrut and Jabrayil, Mansimov said. In those days, the special forces conducted a series of successful operations, occupying settlements and heights around the town of Hadrut, which came as a complete surprise to the enemy. The Armenians did not expect that the offensive of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces would be in this direction.

After that, such a daring operation was carried out by forces of only 90 people and the heights and villages around Fizuli were taken. "The training and coordination of actions of our artillery and the training of special forces, which made a march 8.5 km behind enemy lines, knocked the enemy out of the heights, and then repulsed counterattacks and liberated the villages of Yukhary Yaglavend and Dilagarda," the colonel said, noting that on in these three directions, 58, 84 and 80 enemy soldiers were destroyed. On the part of the special forces, losses were minimal.

After this battle, an order came from the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and a special troops task force was created from among several brigades, headed by Mansimov.

"The commander of the special troops of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Hikmet Mirzayev gave me an order to prepare the liberation of Shusha." The movement of special troop units took place through forests and mountains and, in fact, behind enemy lines. On the way, the villages were liberated - Chanakhchy, Sykhny and others.

The next order was the occupation of the village of Dashalty on the outskirts of Shusha. This task was completed on November 4. “There were significant losses and the battles were heavy, but the task was completed. Enemy attempts to counterattack on November 5 from two sides (Shusha and Lachin) were suppressed,” the colonel said.

Further, special troop forces blocked the road from Shusha to Lachin and from Shusha to Khankendi, and on November 6, fighting began in Shusha. The enemy used armored vehicles, and the special forces had only anti-tank grenade launchers. “We did not have enough strength and with the last 4 grenade launchers we burned two tanks of Armenians and drove them out of the city. On the night of November 6-7, the Armenians launched three counterattacks on Shusha, but they were destroyed. The city was cleared on November 7, and on November 8 the country's leadership announced the liberation of Shusha.

“The Armenians don’t want to admit defeat by the strength of the Azerbaijani army, therefore they tell tales about the surrender of the city. Only in Shusha and on the approaches we counted 730 corpses of Armenian soldiers.

What kind of surrender can we talk about?" said Mansimov.   -02B-