Civilian injured in landmine blast in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan

A tragic incident occurred in the Shahbuz district of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic where a young shepherd from Sharur was seriously injured after stepping on a landmine.

The victim, Bakhtiyar Sultanov, born in 2005 and a resident of Mahmudkend village, Sharur district, was tending to his flock in the pastures near Ganlygol Lake when the explosion happened, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

Sultanov was immediately hospitalized, and his condition is currently assessed as serious.

This incident is a grim reminder of the dangers that persist in areas recently reclaimed by Azerbaijan following the 2020 Second Karabakh War. After nearly three decades of Armenian occupation, these territories remain heavily contaminated with landmines, posing a deadly risk to returning civilians and complicating reconstruction efforts.

In response to this threat, the Azerbaijani government launched extensive mine clearance operations shortly after the conflict ended in November 2020. The Mine Action Agency of the Azerbaijan Republic (ANAMA) is at the forefront of these efforts, deploying specialized teams and advanced demining equipment with assistance from international partners, including Türkiye, the UK, Slovakia, and Croatia.

By 2023, ANAMA had cleared over 53,000 hectares (130,000 acres) of land, removing more than 8,500 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, as well as 23,000 unexploded ordnances (UXO). In July 2024 alone, over 1,184 hectares of territory in the liberated areas were fully cleared of mines, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Azerbaijani Army's Engineering Troops.