Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) has examined six craters at two acreages and a pasture, where it found and gathered pieces of several unexploded ordnance (UXO), the Agency reported on August 8. Additionally, an area of 14,000 square meters in Aghjabadi, Agdam and Terter regions was cleansed by ANAMA.

During last four months, from April 7 to August 8, the Agency experts viewed 642 houses and infields, two military units, five rural schools, 30 farms, a medical center, a warehouse of scrap metal and acreages in Zardab, Tartar, Agjabadi, Agdam, Barda, Fizuli, Goranboy, Tovuz, Gazakh, Agstafa, Samukh, Goygol, Shamkir, Jalilabad, Ujar, Astara regions, and in cities of Mingachevir, Sumgayit, Ganja and Baku.

As a result, ANAMA discovered and defused 3,470 UXO, 15 anti-personnel mines PMN, three anti-personnel mines POMZ-2, an anti-personnel mine OZM-72, and 24 anti-tank mines.

Currently, mobile groups of ANAMA continue their operations on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops and in the territories with schools and other facilities.

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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