Azernews.Az

By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) has carried out 1,831 special operational emergency field visits as a response action to 2,287 calls from September 27, 2020, to January 7, 2021.

ANAMA experts inspected houses and household areas in Aghdam, Agjhabadi, Barda, Bilasuvar, Jabrayil, Goranboy, Goygol, Kurdamir, Fuzuli, Tartar, Tovuz, Shamkir, Hajigabul, Zardab, Khizi, Khojavend, Oghuz, Gabala regions, Naftalan, Ganja, Shusha and Mingachevir cities, territories near the oil pipelines, including the South Caucasus Pipeline, the Mingachevir thermal power plant, arable and pasture areas, roadsides, forests, schools.

As a result of inspections, 2,631 unexploded munitions, 4,546 pieces of anti-infantry mines, 1,557 pieces of anti-tank mines, 1,915 pieces of anti-tank mine explosive fuses, 77 pieces of detonators, 1,439 pieces of 9N235 type bomblets, 24,515 patrons of various calibres, 2 gas-grenades, 5,968 grams of black gunpowder, 275 kg of plastic explosives, 150 kg of ammonium-nitrate explosives, 27 meteorological radio direction detectors for military purposes, 7 neutralized drones, 2 micro schemes for missiles and 1,968 exploded missile parts were found.

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.

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