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About 1,500 mines, munitions defused in liberated lands in April [PHOTO]

4 May 2022 13:17 (UTC+04:00)
About 1,500 mines, munitions defused in liberated lands in April [PHOTO]

About 1,500 mines and unexploded ordnance were found and defused on Azerbaijan's liberated territories on April 1-30, Azerbaijan’s Mine Action Agency has reported on its official Twitter page.

The agency found and defused 341 anti-personnel, 482 anti-tank mines and 673 unexploded munitions in Tartar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Shusha, Gubadli, Jabrayil and Zangilan regions during the reported period.

Overall, 1,701.5 hectares were cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance in this period.

Furthermore, the agency neutralized 11,009 anti-personnel, 5,444 anti-tank mines and 15,020 unexploded ordnances from November 10, 2020, to April 30, 2022, the report added.

Some 9,568.1 hectares were cleared of munitions in the said period.

Armenia submitted to Azerbaijan all mine maps of liberated territories as a result of talks held through the Russian Defence Ministry's mediation on December 4, 2021.

On April 1, at a conference on "Humanitarian mine action and sustainable development goals (SDGs)" jointly organized by the ANAMA and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Baku, Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev described as accurate only 25 percent of minefield maps provided by Armenia.

"They planted mines instead of trees in our territories. Both soldiers and civilians were killed and injured in the blasts. Unfortunately, only 25 percent of the mine maps provided by Armenia were useful," Hajiyev stressed.

On March 2, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stated that the low accuracy of Armenia's minefield maps of Azerbaijani liberated territories slows the mine-clearance process.

"The demining operations are underway, but people are still losing their lives. From the end of the 44-day Second Karabakh War to the present, over 200 people have become victims of mine explosions in liberated lands," Bayramov said.

He added that the high mine contamination of the liberated territories hinders the return of former internally displaced persons to their native lands.

It should be noted that ANAMA, along with the partner countries, carries out demining activities on its liberated territories. Moreover, the State Border Service and the Defence Ministry units also demine the liberated lands.

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.

Previously, 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.

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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