Azerbaijan returns bodies of 18 Armenian soldiers

BAKU, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has returned the corpses of 18 Armenian soldiers and is looking for the remains of one Azeri soldier, a state committee announced on Thursday.

Azerbaijan's State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People said in a statement that the Azeri soldier, Seymur Bahishov, could not be found in the battlefield and that his body could be on the Armenian side.

The commission asked international bodies to find the soldier's dead remains and return them to his country.

The announcement comes after Azerbaijan and Armenian forces agreed last week on an exchange of bodies of those killed in clashes on the borders of occupied Karabakh.

The exchange was agreed to be done through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the International Red Cross.

Meanwhile, one Azerbaijani soldier was killed Thursday during border clashes, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said.

Armenia has been increasing the tension despite a deal over stopping the border fighting, the ministry said in a statement.

Since 1993, Armenian militia have occupied Karabakh region, which was referred as being part of Azerbaijan in three UN Security Council resolutions (853, 874 and 884) and UN General Assembly resolutions 19/13 and 57/298.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also refers to the territory as being under the occupation of Armenian forces.