Azerbaijan, Baku, 11 March / Trend corr. K.Zarbaliyeva / The first peacemaking brigade was formed within the Azerbaijani Internal Troops. Colonel-Lieutenant Zakir Hasanov, commander of Internal Troops and Deputy Internal Minister, stated in his interview to journalists that the brigade is formed within the framework of the project 'Support to policy in peacemaking operations' in compliance with the program of individual partnership with NATO
According to Hasanov, all measures to form the brigade were completed and submitted to NATO specialists. NATO highly regarded the work on the formation of the brigade.
The first peacemaking brigade will operate in 2008.
By the order of the Azerbaijani ex-President Heydar Aliyev, the date of soldiers joining the Internal Ministry for military action in Nagorno Karabakh war was established as a day when the Azerbaijani internal troops was formed. During the war the troops lost 496 soldiers, 1,168 were wounded and 268 are missing.