Azernews.Az

By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijan's Mine Action Agency has said that over 100 mines and unexploded ordnance were found on the country's liberated territories in the past week.

In its report for operations held from May 10 to 16, the agency said that 82 antipersonnel mines, five anti-tank mines, and 24 unexploded ordnance (UXO) were found in Tartar, Aghdam, Fizuli, Shusha, Gubadli, Jabrayil and Zangilan regions.

In all, the agency cleared 139.5 hectares of lands from mines in the said period.

Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenia's occupation in a 44-war in autumn 2020 are currently being demined at a high pace. The Mine Action Agency experts demine the territories intended for building roads and infrastructure facilities, and for laying cable communication lines. Later, the territories aimed for cropping will be cleared of mines.

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 earlier described Armenia’s failure to provide the mine maps as the main difficulty for Azerbaijani IPDs to return to their homes. He said that this is yet another war crime by Armenia as several servicemen and civilians were killed in mine blasts on the liberated territories after the war.

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