Soviet Fourth Army troops surround the village of Aragiul. As a pretext for the mass deportation of the village s 233 Armenians, Azerbaijani special forces arrive to check residence papers and search for armed Armenian militants. Azerbaijani OMON troops, supported by USSR Internal Affairs Ministry forces, shell, overrun, and loot Armenian villages in Nagorno-Karabagh under the pretext of conducting searches. Azerbaijani Interior Ministry forces, with the support of sub-units of the USSR MVD Internal Troops and the 23rd Division of the Soviet Fourth Army, forcibly deport Armenians from the villages of Manashid and Buzlukh in the Shahumian region. Women and children flee to neighboring Armenian villages, and the men hide in nearby forests.
Azerbaijani troops enter the villages and pillage Armenian property.
The legislature ratifies independence on January 6, 1992. Alazan missiles and mortar shells rain down on the capital, Stepanakert, from the heights of Shushi and Kirkijan, overlooking the city. Scores are killed or wounded. Azerbaijani troops have increased their shelling of Armenian villages since Soviet Interior Ministry troops started their pullout from the newly declared republic.