The Azerbaijani National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) has reportedly cleared 200,000 square metres of landmines and unexploded ordinance on the road between the cities of Fuzuli and Shusha .
ANAMA's Madad Mammadov told Trend News Agency that the areas cleared are located in the Alkhanli and Seyidahmedli villages in the Fuzuli region: "As a result of the cleanup, 207 anti-tank mines, 168 anti-personnel mines and 5 unexploded ordnance were found and neutralised".
On 28 November last year, Azerbaijan reported that four of its civilians had been killed in the Fuzuli region when their car hit an anti-tank mine. In January, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev referred to demining as his country's main task in the rehabilitation of the territories that came under Azerbaijani control in last year's 44-day war. In light of the magnitude of this task, he noted that ANAMA had "virtually no agency-specific powers in the public administration structure" and ordered for it to be strengthened, reorganised.
Aliyev has confirmed that Fuzuli will be connected by both highway and railway to Shusha – the citadel overlooking the Armenian-held capital of the de facto Nagorno-Karabakh republic, Stepanakert. An international airport in Fuzuli is already under construction to facilitate the arrival of visitors to Shusha, which Aliyev has declared as Azerbaijan’s “cultural capital” and has become a symbol of Azerbaijan's military victory in last year's war.