On February 23, ten servicemen in the Russian-led CIS 366th Motorized Rifle Regiment (of the 23rd Motor Rifle Division, 4th Army) headquartered in Stepanakert, tasked with maintaining peace between the Armenians and Azeris, were injured and one was killed in a bombardment by artillery. Altogether, over 2,000 civilians were killed and thousands more injured in the bombardment in 1992; moreover, the city's infrastructure was completely devastated with the destruction of sewage networks, water pipes, gas and electricity. In an article that appeared in "TIME" in April 1992, it was noted that "scarcely a single building [had] escaped damage in Stepanakert." In addition to the shelling, the Azeri military also launched air raids and staged several ground attacks on the outskirts of Stepanakert in hopes of later moving on to capture the city itself. While they were staved off numerous times, the city's leaders complained that military action had to be taken to relieve it from the continuous bombardment. On April 27, the military leaders' plans were approved to move in and capture Shusha. Planning for the military operation began under the auspices of Colonel-General Gurgen Dalibaltayan with guidance from Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan. All of the military factors were in favor of the Azeri Army. The Azeris had advantage in terms of the quantity and the quality of military equipment; they held a numerical superiority; and also held the high ground and, due to the strategic position of Shusha, the town could be easily defended. Therefore, a direct attack by Armenian forces was not a viable option for Dalibaltayan. Furthermore, according to military conventions and practices, for the operation to be successful, the attacking party should outnumber the defenders by at least 3 – 4 times (even more when attacking an elevation), while the NKR Detachments simply did not have such manpower at the time. Instead, in conjunction with the commander who would lead the troops into Shusha, Arkady "Komandos" Ter-Tadevosyan, they devised a strategy of launching several diversionary attacks against the adjacent villages to draw out the defenders of the town. In the meantime, the forces would encircle and cut off the town from further reinforcements. The plan was put together in March – April 1992, after the intelligence data about the location, positions and the number of the rival forces had been finalized. By the commission of L. Martirosov, a model of Shusha area was made, enabling the commanders to define their actions and directions.