26 army casualties reported in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh in 2017
A total of 26 fatal incidents have been reported in the armed forces of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) since January 2017.
In only12 (or 46%) of the cases, the lethal outcome was caused by armed miltiary aggression provoked by Azerbaijan. In all the other cases, non-manual relations are known to have led to privates or cotnract servicemen's death.
Reports published by the two countries' Ministries of Defense, and the Investigative Committee of Armenia reveal a higher number of deadly incidents in the Nagorno-Karabakh military.
In the above period, Nagorno-Karabakh reported 19 fatalities against the 7 tragic cases in the Armed Forces of Armenia. Only 58% of the servicemen in Nagorno-Karabakh (11 out of 19) were killed in Azerbaijani gunfire. All the rest died of different other reasons: three servicemen were found drowned in water, one turned out to have accidently shot himself dead, one died of gas poisoning and one was fatally wounded in a gunfire accidentally released by a fellow servicemen. The circumstances of two other incidents are yet to be identified.