Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan's Aliyev hails surrender of ethnic Armenians

Azerbaijan's president has declared that his country's sovereignty has been restored over Nagorno-Karabakh after a 24-hour military offensive against ethnic-Armenian forces.

Ilham Aliyev praised the heroism of Azerbaijan's army hours after Karabakh forces agreed to surrender.

Some 120,000 ethnic Armenians live in the South Caucasus enclave, recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan now intends to bring the breakaway region under full control.

Its military launched an "anti-terror" operation on Tuesday, demanding that Karabakh's forces raise a white flag and dissolve their "illegal regime". With no means of support from neighbouring Armenia, and after an effective nine-month blockade, the ethnic Armenians soon capitulated.

Karabakh officials said at least 32 people were killed, including seven civilians, and another 200 wounded.

Azerbaijan's army said it had captured more than 90 positions from the ethnic Armenians before both sides announced that a complete cessation of hostilities had been agreed through Russian peacekeepers, starting at 13:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

Under the terms of the truce, local Karabakh forces commit to being completely disbanded as well as disarmed. There is also a commitment to Armenian forces pulling out, even though Yerevan denies having any military presence there.