January 12, 2015 - 14:59 AMT
Yerevan allows Baku to retrieve Azeri commando's body

Yerevan will allow Baku to retrieve the body of a soldier who died in an attempted cross-border incursion into Armenia.

As Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan noted in his Facebook post, in conformity with international humanitarian law, the Armenian armed forces allowed the Azerbaijani side to retrieve the body of one of the commandos from the area between the Armenian and Azerbaijani positions.

An infiltration was attempted by Azerbaijani armed forces in the northeastern province of Tavush on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Jan 11, resulting in casualties.

According to Armenia’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the body of an Azerbaijani soldier was left in the territory between Armenian and Azerbaijani military positions, while an 80-year-old Armenian shepherd was killed in the incident.

“Today, at approximately 17:30, Azerbaijani armed forces attempted subversion along the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border near the village of Baghanis. The adversary’s troops were discovered in time. The Armenian army’s rapid response unit was able to intercept the attempted diversion. The body of one of the members of the adversary’s commando unit is now found in the territory between the military positions. Sadly, during the skirmish, a shepherd, Seryozha Sargsyan, born in 1935, was killed. The Republic of Armenia’s armed forces are in complete control of the situation. The military and political leadership of Azerbaijan must bear full responsibility for the incident,” Hovhannisyan said.