Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani army’s engineer-sapper units have defused some 122 Armenian-planted mines in the liberated Lachin District, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

The engineer-sapper units are demining the territory and supply roads mined by the Armenian armed units’ sabotage groups amid a large-scale provocation on the state border with Armenia, the ministry added.

As a result of demining operations in Lachin, 122 E-001 M type anti-personnel mines produced in Armenia in 2021 were discovered and transported from the ravine gap in the northeastern part of the Boyuk Ishigli Mount and disposed of in line with safety regulations on September 18, the ministry detailed.

The engineering support activities are being undertaken in the liberated lands, the report added.

Similarly, as a result of demining activities carried out by engineer-sapper units in Azerbaijan's Dashkasan, Kalbajar, Lachin districts, 100 Armenian-made PMN-E and eight PMN-2 anti-personnel mines, as well as 10 anti-tank mines were found and neutralized on September 17.

Earlier the Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency reported that a massive number of PMN-E type mines, the use of which is prohibited under international humanitarian law, were discovered in Lachin. The discovered mines were produced in Armenia in 2021 following the 44-day war (2020).

To recap, units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions on the night of September 12 leading to 13. The Armenian sabotage groups mined land and supply roads linking the positions of the Azerbaijani army units in different directions, taking advantage of the area's steep topography and existing ravine gaps.

The clashes between the sides ensued as a result of the urgent efforts made by the Azerbaijani armed forces to quell these activities. As a result, 79 armed forces personnel were killed, the ministry detailed.

The Azerbaijan military units stationed in these areas took decisive retaliatory measures to suppress the provocations of the Armenian armed forces and military threats to Azerbaijan's territory and sovereignty, as well as to ensure the safety of military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure construction in Kalbajar and Lachin districts, the ministry emphasized.

So far, the Armenian government reported 135 losses among its own military personnel.

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