Azernews.Az

By Vafa Ismayilova

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry has stated that activities on the comprehensive engineering support for army units stationed in the territories liberated from Armenia's occupation are being continued.

"Engineer-sapper units of the Azerbaijan Army are carrying out work on clearance of the territories of mines and unexploded ordnance. Demining and restoration of roads are underway to ensure the safe movement of military vehicle convoys. Work is being carried out to lay new roads in the directions of the positions of our units deployed in the mountainous terrain. A large number of mines and unexploded ordnance have been disposed of until today," the ministry said on its website on April 6.

The report added that activities on the detection and defusing of mines and unexploded ordnance on liberated territories continued.

On April 4, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated that from the day of signing of the Karabakh peace deal (trilateral statement) by the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders on November 10, 2020, 20 Azerbaijani citizens, including 14 civilians were killed by mine explosions on the country's liberated territories. Some 85 citizens, including 16 civilians were seriously injured.

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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