ANAMA defuses thousands of UXOs
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) has defused 3,437 unexploded ordnances (UXOs) and 13 mines in the past month.
The Agency told APA on April 5 that its members cleared a territory of 1,686,047 square meters in March.
As a result, ANAMA discovered and defused 3,437 unexploded ordnances (UXOs), 10 anti-tank and three anti-personnel mines.
The operations involved 489 sappers and 131 members of the administrative staff, six cars on mechanical demining and 34 specially trained mine-detection dogs.
Demining operations were conducted in the Absheron, Agdam, Agjabadi, Agstafa, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Ganja, Lankaran, Tovuz, Gazakh, Yevlakh and Tartar regions, as well as in the Garadagh district of Baku and Guzdek village.
To date, the Agency has cleared a total area of 398,670,503 square meters, discovering and defusing 760,344 mines and UXOs.
ANAMA was established in 1998 for planning and coordination, management and monitoring of mine action related activities all over the country.
The problem of unexploded ordnance in the country can be divided into the areas of Azerbaijan that are still under the occupation of Armenian forces and those areas that have been liberated. The project is designed to create indigenous capacity to undertake survey, mapping and clearance in currently liberated areas and to prepare for dealing with the UXO problem in occupied areas after their liberation.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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