One civilian was killed and another was injured yesterday (8 July) in Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district due to an exploding landmine. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Interior Affairs (MIA) reported that Nuru Nuriyev and Elnur Hashimov fell victim to an anti-personnel mine after illegally entering the territory and walking towards the village of Ashaghy Abdurahmanly. The statement said that police, specialists from ANAMA (Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Action), and interior troops were required to take urgent measures to evacuate them. Azernews has since reported that Nuriyev died at the scene and Hashimov lost both of his legs.
The Azerbaijani MIA says that despite repeated warnings, individuals continue to attempt to enter areas such as Fuzuli, which returned to Azerbaijani control during last year’s 44-day war. In its statement, the MIA notes that Nuriyev had previously been detained and held for 30 days in February for attempting to illegally enter the area.
On Sunday (4 July), speaking over video to Vugar Suleymanov on his appointment as Chairman of the Board of ANAMA, President Ilham Aliyev appealed to citizens not to travel illegally and without permission to the territories that returned to Azerbaijani control last year. He expressed understanding that those displaced would want to return to the villages where they once lived, but highlighted the dangers, assuring that demining was "a priority task". He added, "This should be done in such a way that no accidents occur after the work is completed."
Since the end of last year’s war, over 140 Azerbaijanis are reported to have been killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance in the territories that returned to Azerbaijani control. On 3 July, Armenia handed Azerbaijan maps of 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel landmines in the Fuzuli and Zangilan districts, having already transferred maps of 97,000 mines in the Agdam district on 12 June.