Armenian Defense Ministry puts Nagorno-Karabakh’s losses at 92 people

YEREVAN, April 14. /TASS/. Nagorno-Karabakh’s combat and non-battle losses in the recent clashes along the line of contact with the Azeri side total 92 people, the Armenian defense ministry said late on Wednesday.

"As many as 64 servicemen and 13 volunteers and reservists were killed in clashes along the line of engagement on April 2-5," the ministry said, adding that one officer is reported missing.

Non-battle losses over the period from April2 to April 13 in conditions of aggravated tensions at the line of contact include nine servicemen and two militias. Apart from that, four Nagorno-Karabakh civilians were killed "as a result of the enemy’s criminal actions," the ministry said.

Overnight to April 2, hostilities erupted on the line disengaging warring sides in Nagorno-Karabakh. Later, the parties to the conflict accused each other of the ceasefire violations. On April 5, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to cease the hostilities on the line disengaging the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh at a meeting in Moscow mediated by Russia.

History of the conflict

The highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Mountainous Karabakh) is a mostly Armenian-populated enclave inside the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. It was the first zone of inter-ethnic tensions and violence to appear on the map of the former USSR.

Even almost a quarter of a century after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Karabakh remains a so-called 'frozen conflict' on the post-Soviet space, as the region is the subject of a dispute between Azerbaijan and the local Armenian population that draws on strong support from fellow-countrymen in neighboring Armenia.

In 1988, hostilities broke out there between the forces reporting to the government in Baku and Armenian residents, which resulted in the region's de facto independence. In 1994 a ceasefire was reached but the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia remain strained ever since then.

Russia, France and the US co-chair the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which attempts to broker an end to hostilities and the conflict.