Two killed, three seriously wounded in mine blast in liberated Aghdam
By Vafa Ismayilova
Two Azerbaijani civilians have been killed and three have been severely injured in a mine blast in Aghdam region liberated from Armenia's occupation in 2020, Trend reported, quoting the regional prosecutor's office.
At about 16:00 (GMT+4) on March 16, the Aghdam region prosecutor's office received information that six civilians were hit by the explosion of an anti-personnel mine in the region. As a result, Razi Huseynov and Bayram Huseynov were killed, Akif Huseynov, Anar Huseynov and Bahruz Abdulov were severely injured, the report added.
Representatives of the prosecutor's office and police officers examined the scene of the incident. The forensic medical expertise was arranged and other necessary procedural actions were taken.
The regional prosecutor's office filed a criminal case into the incident under Azerbaijani Criminal Code Articles 100.2 (planning, preparation, unleashing and waging an aggressive war), 116.0.6 (violation of international humanitarian law during an armed conflict), 120.2.7 (intentional killing of two or more people). Intensive investigative actions are currently underway.
On March 15, the Prosecutor-General's Office reported that a civilian had been severely injured in a mine blast in liberated Khojavand region.
Earlier, the Prosecutor-General's Office reported that 10 civilians have been killed and 21 others have been injured in mine explosions in Azerbaijan’s newly-liberated lands since the signing of the peace deal by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders on November 10.
Armenia continues to refuse to provide maps for around 100,000 mines planted over about 30 years of occupation of Azerbaijani lands.
Azerbaijan’s Agency for Mine Action has executed 1,800 operational and emergency field visits as a response action to 2,300 calls from September 27, 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers earlier said in its report for 2020.
As a result of the inspections, 1,600 unexploded munitions, 4,500 pieces of anti-infantry mines, 1,400 pieces of anti-tank mines, 1,900 pieces of anti-tank mine explosive fuses, 77 pieces of detonators, 1,400 pieces of 9N235 type bombs, 21,000 patrons of various calibres, 2 gas-grenades, 6 kg grams of black gunpowder, 275 kg of plastic explosives, 150 kg of ammonium-nitrate explosives, 17 meteorological radio direction detectors for military purposes, 7 drones (neutralized), 2 schemes for missiles and 1,900 unexploded missile parts have been found, the report said.
Some experts believe that Armenia has spent $350 million to mine lands in and around Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region that were liberated from occupation in the 44-day war.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on February 26 described Armenia’s failure to provide the maps of mined areas in liberated lands as the main difficulty for Azerbaijani IPDs to return to their homes. He said that this can also be considered to be a war crime as several servicemen and civilians were killed in mine blasts on liberated territories after the war.
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