Armenians placed military facilities near places of civilians' residence - Azerbaijani President's assistant

BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 20. The military facilities of the Armenian armed formations were placed near the places of residence of civilians. The civilian population of Karabakh was not affected, but the data received is being checked again, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said at a press briefing, Trend reports.

He noted that the population was notified via SMS about anti-terrorist measures.

"The goal was to keep the civilian population away from military facilities. But it turned out that the Armenians began to place military facilities closer to the place of residence of the civilian population. We, in turn, did not strike at these territories," Hajiyev said.

At 04:30 (GMT+4) on September 19, 2023, a terrorist attack occurred near the village of Taghavard in the Khojavand district. A KAMAZ truck transporting personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan was struck by an explosion caused by a mine that had been previously planted by unauthorized Armenian armed groups. Notably, these groups had not withdrawn from Azerbaijani territory, despite the provisions outlined in the trilateral agreement signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia following the second Karabakh War in 2020.

Consequently, Azerbaijan initiated anti-terror measures aimed at addressing the presence of unauthorized Armenian forces and remnants of the Armenian armed forces in Karabakh.

As a result, in under 24 hours, the Azerbaijani Army has managed to take control of more than 90 combat positions of the Armenian armed forces units. At the same time, seven combat vehicles, one tank, four mortars, and two infantry fighting vehicles were captured as trophies from the Armenian armed forces units.

Thus, on September 20, at 13:00 (GMT+4), and agreement has been reached to stop the anti-terrorist activities under several terms.

First, the units of Armenia's armed forces deployed in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, as well as illegal armed groups, are required to relinquish their weaponry, vacate their combat positions and military bases, and undergo thorough disarmament. Concurrently, the surrender of all ammunition and heavy military equipment is enforced. At the same time, the implementation of the aforementioned procedure should be coordinated with the presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, temporarily stationed in Karabakh.