STEPANAKERT (Sputnik) – The de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has claimed 56 military personnel have been killed in combat since April 2, the republic’s Defense Ministry said Monday.
“According to information on April 7, we have lost 36 people. Since then we have found or the Azerbaijani side has handed over the bodies of another 20, bringing the total to 56 killed,” the NKR Defense Ministry said.
According to the Defense Ministry, several bodies handed over by Azerbaijan show signs the soldiers were still alive when taken prisoner and were killed later.
Azerbaijan does not recognize the ethnically Armenian self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and considers the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army to be a part of the Armed Forces of Armenia.
On April 2, Armenia and Azerbaijan declared a dramatic escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Baku and Yerevan traded blame for breaching the truce in the conflict and reported heavy fighting in the area.
On Sunday, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's Defense Ministry told RIA Novosti that the Azerbaijani forces had violated the ceasefire in the breakaway region, adding that the Nagorno-Karabakh forces "mostly refrained from response actions."
