Azerbaijani mine agency discloses latest casualty figures, work ahead

Since the end of the second Karabakh war in November 2020, a total of 282 people have been victims of landmines, 46 of whom have lost their lives, and 236 have been injured, Azernews reports, citing Vuqar Suleymanov of ANAMA's Board of Directors has said.

The Azerbaijani deminers have so far cleared 68,300 ha of lands of Armenia-planted landmines in the formerly occupied lands and 82,522 mines were detected and rendered neutral, the chief mine expert of the country said.

The deputy special representative of the Azerbaijani president for the Karabakh Economic Region (except Shusha), Bashir Hajiyev, said that 26.2% of Agdam District, 22.7% of Fuzuli, 3.5% of Xojavand, 15.2% of Khojaly, and 15.1% of Tartar have already been cleared of mines.

"As part of President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Agdam, the foundation of 11 facilities was laid during the past year, thus the design work of those facilities was started, and most of them are already nearing completion. Currently, the priority areas to be demined in Agdam are Kangarli, Saricali, and Xidirli villages, the buffer zones, the Hindarx-Agdam highway, and the canal from Xacincay reservoir, and other inner-city projects."

The deputy chief of the Interagency Centre for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Liberated Areas under the AzAzerbaijaniresidential executive staff, Sultan Hajiyev, said that the UK, the USA, and Hungary are the countries that provide the most support to Azerbaijan in demining activities.

"A lot of countries are providing aid, but they are insufficient to support Azerbaijan," he opined.

In violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, during the years of occupation and at the moment of withdrawal from Azerbaijani lands in late 2020 and even after the second Karabakh war, Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security, and cooperation.