ANAMA neutralizes over 1,500 unexploded ordnance in March

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) cleared 4,410,908 square meters of the country’s territory in March, the agency informed on April 3.

During this period, ANAMA discovered and cleared 1,541 unexploded ordnance (UXOs) and an anti-tank mine. The operations involved 490 members of the operational staff, 136 members of the administrative personnel, six demining vehicles and 40 sapper dogs.

In general, ANAMA cleared a total of 518,051,689 square meters of Azerbaijan’s territory, discovering and defusing 794,151 mines and UXOs.

In March, demining operations were conducted in Agjabadi, Agdam, Agstafa, Beylagan, Jabrayil, Goranboy, Lankaran, Tartar, Yevlakh regions and Sumgayit. During this period, ANAMA received 12 appeals from the 102 Call Center of the Interior Ministry and 13 from the Emergency Management Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Based on the appeals, 8,050 square meters of territory were inspected and 1,329 UXOs and an anti-tank mine were found. With a view of ensuring the safety of the population, they were transported for neutralization to the central territory of the agency for destruction of dangerous items and devices.

ANAMA was established in 1998 for planning and coordination, management and monitoring of mine action related activities all over the country. The problem of unexploded ordnance in Azerbaijan can be divided into the areas that are still under the occupation of Armenian forces and other areas of the country. Most of the UXOs are the result of Armenian aggression.

Over the past year, ANAMA defused up to 93 million square meters of the Azerbaijan's territory, detecting and defusing 35,117 UXOs, 204 anti-tank mines and 35 anti-personnel mines.

From the beginning of 2018, the agency experts conducted inspections in Agdam, Agjabadi, Agstafa, Absheron, Fuzuli, Tartar, Gazakh, Naftalan, Goranboy, Khizi, Shamkir and Lankaran regions as well as in Baku, Ganja and Sumgayit.