Armenia hands bodies of 13 killed soldiers over to Azerbaijan

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian side transferred bodies of 13 soldiers to the Azerbaijani side on Sunday, April 10, Yerkir.am cited a Karabakh Defense Army spokesperson as saying.

Nagorno Karabakh's state commission on prisoners of war, hostages and missing persons on Sunday, April 10 exchanged bodies of fallen soldiers with the Azerbaijani side near the settlement of Bash Karvend.

“Besides, we have also given them the opportunity to gather the dozens of corpses, scattered in front of our positions,” Senor Hasratyan said.

According to him, search activities are currently underway to find the single Armenian missing soldier.

The names of the 18 servicemen, whose bodies were handed over by Azerbaijan, will soon be published on the Defense Ministry website, Hasratyan said.

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 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 14 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drone, 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 93 Azerbaijani soldiers, stating that 33 more have been wounded. According to Karabakh authorities, 300 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in clashes.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.

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