Two Azeri journalists and a local official were killed today in a landmine explosion in Kalbajar, an area on which Armenian forces withdrew last November.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, a cameraman for the public television network AzTV and a correspondent for Azerbaijan’s state news agency were killed when their vehicle struck an anti-tank mine. A local official was also killed and four people were injured.
“Our channel cameraman Shiraz Abitsov, born in 1989, and an AzerTag associate, Mageram Ibragimov, were killed by a landmine while operating in the Kalbajar region,” he wrote on Facebook. Mamedov.powered by Rubicon Project
The bomber struck shortly after 11 a.m. local time in the village of Susuzlug.
The region of Kalbajar was under Armenian control for almost thirty years, but Yerevan was forced to cede it to Azerbaijan after the defeat of Armenian forces in the war for the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the autumn of 2020.
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic said the tragedy underscored the urgency of demining these areas “even through international co-operation”.
Azerbaijan has begun demining its occupied zones last year, but accuses Armenia of delaying the process because it refuses to release minefield maps. This area is considered one of the most mined in the world.
