Another civilian killed, two injured in mine explosion in liberated lands
By Aisha Jabbarova
Land mines planted by Armenia in Azerbaijan's formerly-occupied territories continue to kill civilians.
Another Azerbaijani civilian has been killed and two others have been injured while trying to enter the liberated lands, the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Interior Ministry said in a joint statement issued on April 26.
Shahin Verdiyev died on the spot, while his brother Aydin Verdiyev and Firdovsi Guliyev received various injuries.
All three are residents of Aghjabadi region. It’s not mentioned in the statement where the incident took place.
A criminal case has been launched into the incident.
During the preliminary investigation, it was revealed that late Shahin Verdiyev, while trying to enter the liberated territories on March 30, was detained by police officers and upon the decision of the Aghdam district court he was arrested for 16 days upon administrative procedure.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Interior Ministry urged once again Azerbaijani citizens to withhold from visiting the newly-liberated lands.
Meanwhile, police in Khojavend District detained and arrested for ten days four people who had entered the territory of the district, the Interior Ministry told Trend on April 27. The detainees are residents of Beylagan district Turgut Asadov, Farid Mammadzade, Ali Mamishov, and Mohammed Abdullayev, who lives in the Russian Federation, the report said.
Armenia has refused to provide maps for around 100,000 mines it planted in the Azerbaijani lands occupied during the war in the early 1990s.
Some 21 Azerbaijani citizens, including 14 civilians were killed and 87 citizens, 16 civilians were injured in mine explosions in liberated lands since the signing of the Karabakh peace deal on November 10, 2020.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that demining of liberated lands will be first step in ensuring the return of Azerbaijani IDPs to their homes in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. He said that Armenia’s refusal to provide maps of mines amounts to a war crime.
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.