Artsakh Army Commander Details Special Operation

YEREVAN (Armenpress)—The Defense Army of the Artsakh Republic was forced to carry out a special operation on Saturday to return the bodies of the crew onboard an unarmed helicopter that was shot down by Azerbaijani forces while conducting an exercise flight on Nov. 12.

The Commander of the Defense Army of the Artsakh Republic, Lieutenant-General Movses Hakobyan noted while announcing the success of the operation that Azerbaijan’s refusal to heed calls by the international community to respect the ceasefire and allow for the safe retrieval of the victims’ bodies left Artsakh with no other choice.

Artsakh’s military authorities released a video on Monday detailing the special operation.

Taking into consideration the official statements by the Azerbaijani side and their “absolute lack of reasoning,” Hakobyan says the armed forces of Artsakh were forced to carry out a special operation to locate and retrieve the bodies of the slain crew. As a result of the operation, the body of one of the crew members and the remains of the two other pilots have been retrieved from the site of the incident along with some key parts of the helicopter. In the course of the special operation, two Azeri combatants were eliminated, Hakobyan says. The Defense Army received no casualties.On Wednesday, Nov. 12, an unarmed Mi-24 helicopter belonging to the Artsakh Air Force was shot down by Azerbaijani armed forces while conducting an exercise flight. The area where the helicopter was shot down stayed under fire from Azerbaijani forces continuously following the downing of the aircraft. The Commander of the staff was the Major Sergey Sahakyan, accompanied by Senior Lieutenant Sarkis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan.