ICRC delegates meet with Armenian POW in Azerbaijan

A delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has visited an Armenian civilian who was taken hostage in Azerbaijan amid the ongoing war against the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic.

Subject to the organization's procedures, Azniv Karapetyan, a resident of one of the villages of Artsakh, was also given an opportunity to get in touch with her family members, the spokesperson for the ICRC office in Yerevan, Zaara Amatuni, told Tert.am.

"The conditions in which those individuals are kept, as well as health issues, are under our spotlight," she said without elaborating further.

Asked about the number of the prisoners of war (POWs) whom the ICRC mission has met in the country, Amatuni refrained from unveiling specific details, saying that the kind of substantial information is provided only to the families and the authorities of the countries concerned.

 Commenting on those persons' return, the spokeswoman said that the procedure is arranged based on mutual consent, with the ICRC acting only in the capacity of a mediator.

Azerbaijan launched large-scale offensives along the Line of Contact on September 27, targeting also the civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

As of October 20, the Artsakh defense forces were reported to have shot down 16 war helicopters, 23 warplanes, 202 UAVs, 580 units of armored vehicles (mainly tanks), 86 transport vehicles, 10 armored personnel carriers and multiple rocket launchers (one unit of TOS-1A, two units of BM-30 Smerch and one unit of BM-27 Uragan).

The adversary has lost over 6,459 troops since the eruption of the hostilities. Armenia has officially reported 834 military casualties. 

Azerbaijan's armed forces targeted also civilian objects and military objectives on the territory of Armenia. Two civilians were fatally shot in the Gegharkunik region. As many as 115 civilians were wounded and some 36 were killed in Nagorno-Karabakh. Physical damage was caused to over 6,700 units of property and infrastructures, 640 vehicles and an estimated 1,110 public and manufacturing facilities.  

The Azerbaijani strikes left also journalists (representing both the local and international media) wounded.

Armenia and Artsakh declared martial law and a general mobilization on September  27.

Despite the humanitarian ceasefire agreed formally twice, Azerbaijan's armed forces continued the subversive attacks  in the past days, shelling also civilians settlements on Nagorno-Karabakh's territory.