Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) has purchased new minesweepers to facilitate the mine action in the country’s liberated lands heavily contaminated with Armenian landmines.
Vugar Suleymanov, who chairs the agency, said 18 new mine clearance units were put into operation on those lands on June 23.
ANAMA has also signed a contract with the British Arpies NRC company to conduct aerial research in the liberated territories using drones and various devices.
According to Suleymanov, researchers are currently exploring the area by the deployment of drones.
“Research results are processed using artificial intelligence. This is of particular importance for facilitating the work of sappers,” he said.
The Karabakh (Garabagh) and East Zangazur regions of Azerbaijan had been heavily mined during nearly three decades of illegal Armenian occupation. Armenia launched a full-blown military assault against Azerbaijan following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991. The bloody war lasted until a ceasefire reached in 1994 and saw Armenia occupying 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territories. Over 30,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, and 1 million were expelled from those lands in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by Armenia.
On September 27, 2020, the decades-old conflict between the two countries reignited after Armenia’s forces deployed in occupied Azerbaijani lands shelled military positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. During the counter-attack operations that lasted 44 days, Azerbaijani forces liberated over 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha, from the Armenian occupation. The war ended in a tripartite statement signed on November 10, 2020, by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, under which Armenia also returned the occupied Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan.
Since the end of hostilities, the Azerbaijani government has been carrying out demining operations in the liberated territories to expedite the return of internally displaced people to their homes.
ANAMA’s mine disposal teams, specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Border Services Command, and the Turkish Armed Forces, have been conducting demining operations in the liberated territories. ANAMA deploys cutting-edge Turkish, British, Slovak, and Croatian production machinery to facilitate the process. France is also expected to supply demining equipment to the agency. A minesweeper of local production, known as Revival-P1, is also supposed to be soon used in the mine action.
Several foreign countries and organizations, including the United Kingdom, European Union, and UNESCO, have provided financial aid for the mine clearance operations in Azerbaijan. The US-based Marshall Legacy Institute supplied 20 trained landmine detection dogs to ANAMA and is expected to dispatch five more soon.
According to data published by ANAMA, 225 people in Azerbaijan have been trapped by landmines in the liberated lands since November 10, 2020. As a result of the mine explosions, 186 people were injured, and 39 died.
Despite extensive efforts, demining operations faced many challenges due to Armenia’s refusal to hand over maps of the landmines’ locations.
Azerbaijan obtained from Armenia the minefield maps of the once occupied Aghdam, Fuzuli, and Zangilan districts, which reportedly identify the coordinates of a total of 189,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. Armenia has also provided the Azerbaijani side with mine maps of other liberated territories of Azerbaijan. In exchange for maps, Azerbaijan released dozens of Armenian saboteurs detained in Azerbaijani territory after the ceasefire. However, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said the accuracy of these maps did not exceed 25 percent. Officials in Baku are convinced that the maps hidden by Armenia could help neutralize at least one million landmines planted in the once occupied Azerbaijani lands.
From June 13-18, 2022, ANAMA specialists found and defused 79 anti-personnel, 13 anti-tank mines, and 58 unexploded ordnances.
The number of evacuees from flooded areas in Kazakhstan has reached 97,852 people, including about 32,856 children since March 27.
The Islamic holy month of fasting, Ramadan comes to an end this week with the celebration of a joyous festival called Eid (meaning “festival” in Ar...
Iran's senior military leaders described the drone and missile attack on Israel on April 14 night as “successful".
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned Israel that it would face a "real and extensive" response if it makes any "mistake" following Tehran’s missi...
