Azerbaijan says it has taken Karabakh’s second-largest city

Bursts of explosions, smoke and flame are seen during fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijan’s forces near Shusha, called Shushi by Armenians on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. (AP)

• The city is of cultural and strategic importance to both sides

MOSCOW: Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday his country’s forces had taken Shusha, the second-largest city in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, a statement that Armenian officials denied.
The city, called Shushi by Armenians, is of cultural and strategic importance to both sides and is located 15 kilometers south of the enclave’s largest city Stepanakert.
At least 1,000 people have died in nearly six weeks of fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians.