FILE PHOTO: Kazakh Defence Minister Nurlan Yermekbayev attends military exercises held by assault troops at a firing ground in Almaty Region, Kazakhstan April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Pavel Mikheyev/File Photo
August 31, 2021
ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakh Defence Minister Nurlan Yermekbayev resigned on Tuesday, the office of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said, days after a fire and a series of blasts at an arms depot killed 15 soldiers and firefighters.
Dozens of people were wounded by the blasts which forced the authorities to evacuate nearby settlements in Kazakhstan’s southern Zhambyl province on Aug. 26. The cause of the fire remains unclear. [L1N2PY0C6]
The fire and blasts provoked a public outcry, especially because the explosives at the base in question had been relocated there from a facility in the town of Arys after a similar incident there in 2019 which killed four people.
(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Edmund Blair)
Source: One America News Network
