Azerbaijan has cleared 82 hectares (203 acres) of land in Sarıbaba village in the Shusha district as part of efforts to prepare the area for reconstruction and resettlement, the country's mine action agency ANAMA said on June 25.
Sarıbaba village is located in the mountainous part of the Karabakh region at an altitude of about 1,500 metres (4,921 feet).
The area remained under military control for an extended period and was affected by combat operations, according to ANAMA.
Following technical survey operations, the agency assessed the village as requiring battle area clearance. Demining teams carried out both surface and subsurface clearance operations to remove explosive remnants of war.
ANAMA said the rugged terrain and dense forest cover complicated the visual detection of unexploded ordnance, while rapidly changing weather conditions and temperature fluctuations in the mountainous area posed additional challenges for deminers.
As part of the land clearance project linked to the reconstruction of Sarıbaba village, ANAMA said it had detected and neutralised 14 items of unexploded ordnance during operations.
By Aghakazim Guliyev
