No:504/23, Press release on the death of civilians and the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a result of landmine terror in Khojavend
On September 19, 2023, a vehicle exploded on an anti-tank landmine planted in the Khojavand region by a sabotage group of the Armenian armed forces located in the territories of temporary deployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Azerbaijan. As a result of this provocation, 2 civilians were killed.
On the same day, 4 personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs dispatched to the area of the aforementioned terror act were killed in a landmine explosion on a new road tunnel in Taghaverd village of Khojavend region.
We express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed. May God rest their souls in peace.
The total number of landmine victims has reached 314 people, of which 61 people have died since the 44-day Patriotic War of 2020.
The landmine explosion in the Khojavend region once again demonstrates that the main goal of Armenia, which has not withdrawn its armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan in gross violation of Paragraph 4 of the Trilateral Statement and continued military activities and the planting of landmines, and its puppet regime is to escalate military tensions in the region and to engage in terrorism. Furthermore, the purpose of these provocations is to prevent the large-scale post-conflict reconstruction work from being carried out, to disrupt the civilian population working in these territories, as well as to stop the return of IDPs and their peaceful life in their lands.
In order to ensure peace and security in the region, military provocations and terrorist acts committed by Armenia and the puppet regime it created must be resolutely condemned and prevented.