An Azerbaijani soldier was killed and seven others were injured in mine explosions in Kalbajar in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region, local authorities reported.
In a statement on Wednesday, Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office said that four company employees carrying out repair and construction work in the village of Chirag were injured when an antipersonnel mine detonated at around 6 p.m. local time (2 p.m. GMT).
The statement said one of the four soldiers who rushed to the scene to evacuate the injured workers stepped on another mine and lost his life, while the remaining three sustained injuries.
The latest incident comes amid deteriorating ties between Baku and Yerevan while Azerbaijan blames Armenia for the ongoing fatalities caused by mines.
In a statement a day earlier, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said that “As a result of Armenia's ongoing provocations, since the end of the 2020 Patriotic War, 268 Azerbaijani citizens have become victims of landmine explosions, and 45 people, including three journalists, have succumbed to death."
Thirty-five of the 45 killed were civilians, the statement highlighted.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in October said that the clearing mines that have been planted by Armenia on occupied Azerbaijani territories will take nearly 30 years and cost $25 billion.
Relations between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military illegally occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, with the Armenian Army attacking civilians and Azerbaijani forces, violating several humanitarian cease-fire agreements. During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and around 300 settlements and villages that had been occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.
The fighting ended with a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10, 2020, which was seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia.
However, the cease-fire has been broken several times since then.
