136 Servicemen Died in Armenia and Karabakh in First Half of Year

136 servicemen of Armenia's Armed Forces and Nagorno-Karabakh's Defense Army – among them military conscripts, contract soldiers and volunteers who participated in the early April “four-day war” – died in the first half of 2016, according to a report issued by the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) on July 4.

77 of the total of 136 servicemen, HCAV said, died during the four days of intense fighting along the contact line of Karabakh-Azerbaijani armed forces; the remaining deaths were attributed by military officials to a group of causes – suicide, breach of combat duty rules, natural disaster, etc. 119 of the deaths occurred on the territory of NKR, and the remaining 17 – in Armenia. 

Compared to the same period last year, the report noted, the rate of servicemen's deaths has risen by nearly four times: in the first six months of 2015, the Armenian armed forces and the NKR defense army had reported 34 deaths.

The report also presented data for the last 3 years, stating that 114 of the total of 288 servicemen –  nearly 40 percent – died in non-hostile circumstances, while the remaining 174 were killed in ceasefire violations.