Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says that Tehran and Baku agree on the active development of bilateral relations.

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Gunshots were heard in the separatist stronghold Stepanakert, Armenia’s state news agency Armenpress reported on Thursday, citing the region’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A journalist with the AFP news agency confirmed that some blasts were heard in the city, the de facto capital of the troubled region known as Khankendi by Azeris.

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense, however, denied the report, saying they were “completely false”.

The claims came after delegations from the warring sides started talks in the Azeri city of Yevlakh.

The rivals reached a ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, that could put an end to decades of aspirations for the enclave’s independence from Baku. The deal came 24 hours after Azerbaijan launched a new offensive in the secessionist region, aimed at restoring full control of the territory. It justified its military action, claiming that six people, including two civilians, had died due to mines placed by Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, but the 120,000 ethnic Armenians living there dominate the region. Baku and Yerevan have been vying for control over the region for decades and have fought two wars.

Fighting on Tuesday lasted a day, before separatist forces of the self-styled “Republic of Artsakh” accepted a ceasefire whose terms signaled the area would return under Baku’s control.

According to the Nagorno-Karabakh Office for Human Rights, at least 200 ethnic Armenians died, including 10 civilians. Al Jazeera was not able to independently verify the death toll.

“Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev triumphantly said in a televised speech on Wednesday, adding that his “iron fist” had consigned the idea of a separatist Armenian Karabakh to history.

The separatist Armenian forces said they were forced to accept the deal after Azerbaijani forces broke through their lines and seized a number of heights and strategic road junctions.

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense said Armenian forces in Karabakh had agreed to “lay down their weapons, abandon combat positions and military posts and completely disarm”, adding that all arms and heavy equipment were being handed over to the Azerbaijani military.

Baku had demanded that the separatist political authorities in Karabakh disband before any talks are held about the future of the region, which Azerbaijan wants to fully integrate.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said the ceasefire will be implemented in coordination with Russian peacekeepers, while Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – who is facing calls to resign – said Yerevan was not involved in preparing the text of the truce.

“We hope that military escalation will not continue, because, in the current conditions, it is very important to ensure stability and stop combat actions,” Pashinyan said in a TV address to Armenians.

He also noted that Armenia has not had troops in Karabakh since August 2021.

Thousands of people gathered at Republic Square, in the heart of Yerevan, decrying the government’s perceived failure to support Armenian separatists. Looking ahead, there are fears for the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Meanwhile, thousands of Armenians also massed at the Stepanakert airport. Others took shelter with Russian peacekeepers in the hope of being flown out.

“The question on everybody’s lips is how Azerbaijan is going to handle the issue of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Yulia Shapovalova, a journalist in Moscow, told Al Jazeera.

Azerbaijain’s claim of victory over the region ushers in yet another twist to the tumultuous history of mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh, which over the centuries has come under the sway of Persians, Turks, Russians, Ottomans and Soviets.

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Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said that the governments of Iran and Azerbaijan do not allow their relations to be influenced by the insinuations of the ill-wishers of the two nations.

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In a meeting with the Iranian road minister, the Azeri president hailed Tehran-Baku MoU that links Nakhchivan and Azeri western regions through Iranian territory as manifesting friendly bilateral relations.

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The accused give testimony at the trial chaired by Judge Azad Mejidov.

The investigative bodies revealed that a group of Armenians, illegally acquiring weapons, components for the weapons, ammunition, explosives, and devices, created armed formations not envisaged by the law.

An armed group consisting of 13 people illegally crossed the state border of Azerbaijan on November 17, 2020, and took up the positions in the forest in the Hadrut settlement of Khojavand district.

The members of the group carried out subversive activity here, attacked individuals, organized explosions, fires, committed other terrorist acts that threaten human life and health, to disrupt public safety, create panic among the population or influence the process of making decisions by the Azerbaijani state structures or international organizations until December 13, 2020.

An announcement was made at the trial that if during the trial the guilt of the accused is proven, they can be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 14 to 20 years or to life imprisonment.

A break was announced at the trial, after which the accused gave testimony.

The preliminary investigation of the criminal case initiated by the Main Investigation Department of the Azerbaijani State Security Service against the members of the Armenian armed formations disarmed as a result of the anti-terrorist operation of the State Security Service on December 13, 2020, and who, having illegally and secretly infiltrated to the Azerbaijani territory, committed terrorist-subversive and other criminal actions against the servicemen and civilians of Azerbaijan after the announcement of a ceasefire agreed upon by a trilateral statement signed by Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia on November 10, 2020 [following the Second Karabakh War from late Sept. to early Nov.2020], has been completed.

As earlier reported, the investigation into the criminal case against 14, and then 13 more members of the armed group has been completed and sent to the court for review along with the approved indictment.

In connection with the above-mentioned facts, 13 members of the illegal armed group were accused upon Articles 214.2.1, 214.2.3 (terrorism committed by a group of people upon prior conspiracy by an organized group or criminal association (criminal organization) by using firearms and items used as weapons), 228.3 (illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, components for weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices by an organized group), 279.2 (an attack on enterprises, institutions, organizations or individuals as part of armed formations or groups not envisaged by the law) and 318.2 (illegal crossing of the state border of Azerbaijan by a group of people upon prior conspiracy or by an organized group) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The criminal case together with the indictment approved by the deputy prosecutor general of Azerbaijan was sent for consideration to the court.

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