STEPANAKERT, October 9. /TASS/. The intensity of shelling in Stepanakert, the capital of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, subsided on Thursday night, with only two or three blasts heard in the past six hours, a TASS correspondent reported from the city early on Friday.
The armed forces of Azerbaijan stepped up artillery fire and drone attacks on the city on Thursday morning and in the afternoon. The situation improved on Thursday evening, with practically no blasts heard and air raid sirens staying silent.
Blackout measures are in place in the city: all street lights are out, the majority of windows also remain dark.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.