Azerbaijani civilian killed in mine blast
By Vugar Khalilov
An Azerbaijani civilian has been killed in a mine explosion in western Gazakh region, the Interior Ministry reported on September 22.
Khanliglar village resident Mammad Mardanov (33) was killed by the mine blast in the region's Bala Jafarli village.
An investigation, which has been launched into the case, is underway, the report added.
Earlier, Gubadli region resident Zafar Agayev, the driver of an excavator belonging to Korpu-Bina-Tikinti LLC, who was performing the construction work, hit a mine while driving the excavator. The injured tractor driver was hospitalized in Barda region's central hospital.
The Aghdam region prosecutor's office filed a criminal case into the mine blast that wounded Aghayev at about 0100 (GMT +4) on September 21 in Aghdam's Garvand village.
Some 160 Azerbaijanis have been killed or injured in the explosion of mines planted by Armenians in Azerbaijan’s formerly occupied regions since the end of the war in autumn 2020 that saw Azerbaijan liberate most of its territories in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
On June 12, Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian prisoners in exchange for a map detailing the location of 97,000 mines in formerly-occupied Aghdam.
On July 3, Armenia submitted to Azerbaijan maps of about 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines planted during the occupation of Fuzuli and Zangilan regions.
In his interview to CNN Turk channel on August 14, President Ilham Aliyev said that the accuracy of the maps provided by Armenia at the latest stage is only 25 percent.
The scale of destruction in Azerbaijan’s formerly occupied territories suggests deep hatred and animosity against Azerbaijanis, with many experts describing these mass destructions as genocide.
Azerbaijan and Armenia resumed the second war after that latter started firing at Azerbaijani civilians and military positions starting September 27, 2020. The war ended on November 10 with the signing of a trilateral peace deal by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders.
The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centres and historic Shusha city. 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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