By Aisha Jabbarova
Mines planted by Armenia in Azerbaijan’s formerly-occupied territories continue to kill civilians.
Two journalists and a local official died and four others were injured in a mine blast in Kalbajar region today.
The mine blast occurred at 11 AM on June 4 in Susuzlug village in Kalbajar region liberated from the Armenian occupation in the last year’s war.
Azertag’s correspondent Maharram Ibrahimov and AZTV channel’s cameraman Siraj Abishov lost their lives as the crew vehicle exploded on an anti-tank mine explosion.
Arif Aliyev, a deputy representative of the Kalbajar executive authoritis in the administrative-territorial district of Susuzlug village was also among the killed in the blast.
Four others have been hospitalized with various degrees of injuries.
Azerbaijan Media Development Agency has said that the two journalists who lost their lives, had been stationed in Kalbajar to cover Armenian-inflicted destruction in the liberated lands.
The Prosecutor General’s Office and the Interior Ministry published a joint statement today, saying that "The mining of Azerbaijani territories by the Armenian Armed Forces as a gross violation of the norms and principles of international law, including the requirements of the Geneva Convention of 1949, is the continuation of criminal actions against the Azerbaijani citizens."
Meanwhile, Spokesman for the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population Fazil Talibov said that the media representatives killed in mine explosion on June 4, will be assigned the "martyr" status.
Over 120 Azerbaijanis have been killed and injured during mine explosions in the country’s newly-liberated territories since November 2020.
Armenia has refused to provide maps of hundreds of thousands of mines it planted in the Azerbaijani territories during three decades of occupation.
Azerbaijan has made numerous appeals to international organizations and lodged an intergovernmental complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over Armenia's refusal to provide maps of mines in the formerly-occupied territories.
President Ilham Aliyev on April 20 said that Armenia’s refusal to provide mining maps amounts to another war crime committed by Yerevan. He also said that demining of the newly-liberated territories will be the first stage in the process to return Azerbaijani IDPs to their homes.