Landmine kills 2 Azerbaijani journalists near Nagorno-Karabakh

BAKU, JUN 2021: Ibrahimov, a correspondent for the Azerbaijani state news agency AzerTag, and Abishev, a camera operator with the Azerbaijani state broadcaster AzTV, were on assignment while riding in a bus in Kalbajar district, near Nagorno-Karabakh, when the vehicle hit a landmine, according to multiple news reports and a tweet by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.

Both journalists and an Azerbaijani government official were killed in the blast, which also wounded several other passengers including AzTV producer Emil Mammedov, according to those reports, which did not state the extent of Mammedov’s injuries.

For about 30 years, Armenia has mined a large part of occupied territories of Azerbaijan. So, today main duty is to clear these territories of mines.

Without a map, it’s difficult to ensure the safe return of peaceful Azerbaijanis who became internally-displaced persons 30 years ago. Unfortunately, we do not see the goodwill of Armenia in this matter. The fact that Armenia does not provide minefield maps to Azerbaijan is a war crime.

A landmine explosion has killed a cameraman of Azerbaijan State Television Siraj Abishov, and an employee of AZERTAC Maharram Ibrahimov in Kalbajar district of Azerbaijan.

Last year, at least six journalists were injured in shelling while covering the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as CPJ documented at the time.

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