ANAMA reveals mine-detecting statistics for June
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) made a report on the results of its mine-detecting and neutralization operations in June.
The Agency checked and cleansed an area of 10,298,732 square meters, discovered and defused 976 unexploded ordnance (UXOs), one anti-tank and four anti-personnel mines in the country in the past month.
Moreover, ANAMA repeatedly detected artillery shells, grenades and engines of Grad rockets. One mine exploded within the mentioned period.
ANAMA’s operations involved the operational staff of 402 people, 228 people from administrative staff, six cars on mechanical demining and 34 dogs.
Overall, for 10 years of its activity, ANAMA cleared 374,101,116 square meters of the Azerbaijani territory discovering and defusing 720,298 unexploded mines and ammunition.
In June, the clearance work was carried out in Absheron, Agdam, Agjabadi, Agstafa, Barda, Fizuli, Ganja, Goranboy, Gazakh, Mingachevir, Samukh, Tartar, Tovuz, Garadagh regions and Guzdek village of Azerbaijan.
Currently, special rapid response teams of ANAMA with minesweeper dogs continue their operations for detecting UXOs in the border settlements.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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