Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani army’s engineer and sapper units along with Turkish military sappers defused 342 anti-personnel and tank mines in the liberated lands on December 1-10, the Defence Ministry has reported.

Some 96.7 hectares of territory were cleared of mines and other unexploded ordnance during the mentioned period, the report added.

In all, 17,202 mines and unexploded ordnance have been detected and utilized on the liberated territories, as well as 13,273 hectares of territory and 628 km of roads have been de-mined in cooperation with other state structures, the ministry said.

The demining activities are being carried out to ensure the safe movement of vehicles.

Moreover, roads are being cleared of mines and snow cover and new supply roads are being constructed to the Azerbaijani military positions located in the mountainous terrain.

On the liberated territories, Azerbaijan's engineer and sapper units were earlier supplied with the MEMATT (Mechanical Demining Supply) equipment produced by Turkey's ASFAT Company under the Turkish National Defence Ministry. The equipment is highly effective in clearing settlements and arable lands from mines and unexploded ordnance.

All necessary measures are being taken to provide engineering support to the Azerbaijani military units serving in the liberated lands, the report concluded.

Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security, and cooperation.

The Mine Action Agency reported that 10,456 anti-personnel and 4,683 anti-tank mines, as well as 12,659 unexploded ordnances, were found and defused in Tartar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Shusha, Gubadli, Jabrayil, and Zangilan regions from November 10, 2020, to November 30, 2021.

On June 12, Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian prisoners in exchange for a map detailing the location of 97,000 mines in 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.

Yerevan submitted to Baku all mine maps of Azerbaijan's liberated territories as a result of talks through Russia's mediation on December 4, 2021. The accuracy of the maps is still to be checked.

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.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered peace agreement on November 10, 2020, to end 44 days of fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.

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