Armenian side recovers bodies of two Karabakh servicemen

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian and Azerbaijani sides, as arranged beforehand, conducted search and recovery operations, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and field assistants of the special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office controlling the process.

During the search activities, bodies of two Karabakh servicemen – Junior Sergeant Robert Abajyan (b. 1996) and Private Andranik Zohrabyan (b. 1996) – were recovered.

No violations of the ceasefire maintenance deal were registered during the search activities.

The number of casualties on the Armenian side thus stands at 46.

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 46 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 122 were wounded in the course of military operations.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drones, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs. Opposition media outlets, however, reported on the death of 81 Azerbaijani soldiers, stating that 6 more have gone missing. According to Karabakh authorities, 300 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in clashes.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.