42 Armenians missing after Azeri attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, report says
A total of 42 Armenians, including 12 civilians, went missing following Azerbaijan’s military takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in September 2023, the U.S. Department of State said in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released on April 22.
"More than 100,000 ethnic-Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh fled to Armenia between September 24 and October 1, following Azerbaijan’s military operation to gain full control over Nagorno-Karabakh. This followed Azerbaijan’s closure of the Lachin Corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh to most civilian and commercial access, allowing only intermittent humanitarian access, between December 2022 and September 24, when it reopened for one-way traffic out of Nagorno-Karabakh. During the year, Azerbaijani forces hit certain infrastructure inside Armenia," the State Department said.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) processed cases of persons missing in connection with the conflict with Azerbaijan and worked with the government to develop a consolidated list of missing persons. According to the ICRC, 4,931 Armenians and Azerbaijanis remained unaccounted for since the 1990s due to the conflict, of whom a total of 761 were Armenians. According to the government, by year’s end, 195 persons (including 20 civilians) were considered missing after the fall 2020 fighting and two more military service members were considered missing after the September 2022 hostilities. There were 42 missing Armenians following the September 19 offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh (including 12 civilians)," reads the report.