YEREVAN. Oct 30 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani forces overnight tried to break through defense lines in the direction of Shushi, a key city of Nagorno-Karabakh, but their attack was repelled, David Babayan, an advisor to the president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), said on Friday.
"A large group of enemy [forces] armed with state-of-the-art military hardware and missile systems tried to take advantageous positions in order to subsequently launch an offensive on the city of Shushi," Babayan told the Public Television Company of Armenia.
The Defense Army of Nagorno-Karabakh delivered "severe and devastating strikes" in response, he said.
"The whole enemy group was eliminated. There are several hundred bodies. All of their hardware was destroyed. Devastating strikes were delivered on the enemy. Thus, the first attack on Shushi was thwarted," Babayan said.
Shushi is situated 11 kilometers from the unrecognized NKR's capital Stepanakert.
Fighting has been ongoing in Nagorno-Karabakh since September 27.