First Nagorno-Karabakh War
Since the beginning of 1992, Karabakh Armenians had stormed the Azerbaijani villages around Stepanakert and deported the remaining residents. Among those Azerbaijani villages, Khojaly was the focal point since it was the center of a wide-scale Azerbaijani resettlement program. The Armenians cut off access by road to Khojaly in October 1991; consequently, the town was just there without electricity, oil and running water. Finally on the night of 25 and 26 February 1992, when was the forth anniversary of the Sumgait pogroms, the Armenians surrounded the town and attacked the Azerbaijani residents, which is known as Khojaly Massacre, the most brutal part of the war.