Mine clearance starts in Azerbaijan's liberated Aghdam

7 January 2021 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

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By Vafa Ismayilova

The Russian Emergencies Ministry's crew of 20 people has begun to demine the territory of Azerbaijan's newly-liberated Aghdam region since January 4, Trend quoted a Russian official as saying.

"The work is currently underway on the minefield. To date, 25 anti-infantry mines have been neutralized by mechanical trawling and an area of more than 2,000 square metres has been cleared. There are anti-infantry pressure mines on the territory," the head of the Federal State Institution Leader Centre for High-Risk Rescue Operations under the ministry, Anatoly Savin, said.

A few days ago, experts from the Azerbaijani and Russian Emergencies Ministries started joint 45-day training courses on demining and cleaning Aghdam region from unexploded ordnance. The demining and cleaning operations will initially begin on 100 hectares of the liberated territories of Aghdam region. It’s planned to complete the work within about three months.

The joint Russian-Turkish Monitoring Centre will operate in Aghdam to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement of November 10.

Six aricraft bombs found near Nagorno-Karabakh

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) said in an operational report for January 6 that six aircraft bombs and a hand grenade had been found as part of emergency operations in the northwestern region of Agstafa and Aghjabadi region near Nagorno-Karabakh.

Specialists of the agency and officers from the regional police departments took the seized bombs and the hand grenade to the agency's central disposal area, ANAMA said.

Some 250 square metres of the ground surface around the grenade and the aircraft bombs was inspected, no additionals dangerous objects and devices were found, the report added.

Six civilians killed in mine blasts since November 10

On December 22, 2020, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that 6 civilians and 6 military servicemen were killed and 7 civilians and 14 military servicemen were injured in landmine blasts after the war ended on November 10.

On January 1, 2021, in their joint statement, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry and ANAMA warned all citizens against visiting liberated territories given that those areas, which came under the enemy fire during the war, were contaminated with mines, unexploded ordnance, explosive devices and explosive remnants of the war. In this regard, citizens are temporarily prohibited from entering those areas until safe travel is possible.

ANAMA’s work on liberated territories is being supplemented by Turkish military mine-clearance experts. Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry reported that 136 Turkish soldiers arrived in mid-December and begun training their Azerbaijani counterparts. The first group of Turkish sappers arrived in early December. The Turkish soldiers themselves also will be involved in clearing Azerbaijan’s newly-liberated territories.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10 brought an end to six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.