Azerbaijan deminer and dog clear Karabakh mines

Azerbaijani deminer Afsana Bayramova and her sniffer dog Rocky are searching for mines near former front lines around Karabakh, where buried explosives are still delaying the return of displaced families.

At Ashaghi Abdurrahmanli in Azerbaijan's Fuzuli district, little remains of the former settlement beyond a sign. Tank trenches and a damaged bunker stand near minefields left by decades of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Bayramova is one of a small number of women working as sappers in the area. Rocky, a Belgian Malinois born in 2023 and brought from Croatia, signals possible explosives by sniffing, wagging his tail, sitting and staring at one spot.

Jabir Samadov, an operations manager with Azerbaijan's mine action agency ANAMA, said teams had cleared more than 309,000 hectares since 2020, neutralising about 69,000 mines and nearly 200,000 unexploded munitions. Azerbaijani authorities say mine blasts have killed 73 people and wounded 370 since the 2020 war.

Some survivors now volunteer to warn others. Asif Ahmadov, who fled the area in 1992, said he lost a leg and his brother was killed by mines four days after fighting ended in 2020. He now works with ANAMA to warn villagers and schoolchildren against entering dangerous ground.

Azerbaijan retook Karabakh and seven surrounding regions in wars and offensives between 2020 and 2023, after earlier conflict had forced hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their homes. More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled after Azerbaijan retook the area.