Suarassy, Kashatagh Region, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

According to military maps 8 anti-tank mines were laid on this 500 meter road. One detonated when a truck passed over it and as a result HALO Trust won’t drive their vehicles along this road until it’s been thoroughly checked. Local settlers, however, believe that because their cattle and horses have yet to detonate any of the possible seven remaining mines, the road is safe — and it might be.

However, running parallel to the road is a minefield of approximately 900 anti-personnel mines. To date, HALO Trust have cleared 504 of them, but I was amazed to see how many remained — a group of three here, four there, and so on. What was even more amazing was to see local cattle and horses run straight towards the minefield until a HALO Trust deminer shouted warnings to the villagers.

Anyway, if ever there was an indication of what danger landmines represent, this was it, and not least because HALO Trust said they hadn’t seen so many mines densely packed into such a small area. This was more the type of minefields seen in Cambodia rather than Karabakh, they said, although the story why was quite interesting.

Apparently, during the height of the Karabakh conflict, fighting was very fierce in this area, but while Armenian forces were mainly made up of conscript soldiers, the Azeris deployed professional special units. During the night these soldiers would sneak behind Armenian lines and kill dozens of Armenian soldiers. Eventually, the Generals ordered the line to be saturated with landmines.

The minefield was discovered well over a decade later when a local hunter stepped on a mine and another hunter hit a second mine while trying to rescue his injured friend. I guess they both had one, or parts of their legs blown off.

Anyway, one thing that struck me was how durable landmines are. Thirteen years after they were laid, many still looked like new, and even though the recent fires in the area might have melted the plastic casing, the internal working parts were still intact. Horrible things landmines, but what a great job HALO Trust are doing. Really.

HALO Trust have a web site at http://www.halotrust.org, and previous articles on the organization’s work in Nagorno Karabakh are available here and here. I hope to have a new article on their work in the area around Lachin ready in the next few days.

Incidently, in the photos the red sticks mark the boundary of the minefield yet to be cleared while yellow represents a physical mine that has already been dealt with.

Suarassy, Kashatagh Region, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006