Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) detected the engine of Grad rocket “9M22U” in Tartar region of the country on July 14.

The unexploded ordnance (UXO) was discovered in the Hasangaya village of the region during the inspection of four craters in an acreage area.

Currently, special rapid response teams of ANAMA with minesweeper dogs continue their operations for detecting UXOs in the border settlements.

The Agency checked and cleansed an area of more than 10 million square meters, discovered and defused 976 UXOs, one anti-tank and four anti-personnel mines in the country in June 2016. Moreover, ANAMA repeatedly detects artillery shells, grenades and engines of Grad rockets.

Overall, for 10 years of its operation, the Agency cleared 374,101,116 square meters of the Azerbaijani territory discovering and defusing 720,298 unexploded mines and ammunition.

The clearance work is carried out in Absheron, Agdam, Agjabadi, Agstafa, Barda, Fizuli, Ganja, Goranboy, Gazakh, Mingachevir, Samukh, Tartar, Tovuz, Garadagh regions of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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