BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 30. Demining activities have been carried out in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan's Gazakh district since April 2024, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) told Trend.
Throughout the operational phase, a total of 204.9 hectares of
terrain have been systematically cleared, resulting in the
identification and neutralization of 1,054 anti-personnel mines, 98
tank mines, and 48 unexploded ordnance devices.
The specified regions exhibit challenging topographical features
coupled with elevated degrees of explosive remnants of war
contamination.
"The prevalence of anti-personnel mines is frequently observed in
the context of clearance operations," ANAMA noted.
The villages of Baghanis Ayrim, Ashagi Askipara, Kheyrimli, and Gizilhajili, which had been under Armenian occupation for 30 years, were returned to Azerbaijan following an agreement reached by the Azerbaijani-Armenian border delimitation commission on April 19, 2024. As a result, a 12.7-kilometer border line was established, and the 6.5-square-kilometer areas of the four Gazakh villages were restored to Azerbaijani control.
The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action was founded in 1998. It mobilizes the requisite resources to address mine action in alignment with national needs and priorities, coordinates inter-agency efforts for the safe clearance of mines from de-occupied and war-affected regions, continues to conduct research, clears mines from territories, and transfers them to end users, while also communicating Azerbaijan's mine issue to the global community and enhancing mutually beneficial collaboration with international and donor organizations to combat the mine threat.
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