Fire ignites munitions at Uzbek depot, killing 3
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TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN — A fire at a Soviet-era military base spread to an ammunition depot Thursday, igniting a series of powerful explosions that the Uzbek government said killed three people and injured 21.
Residents said hundreds of people were evacuated and troops were moving in to secure the area.
A helicopter unit in Kagan, a mining town in central Uzbekistan, caught fire about 11 p.m. Wednesday, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. Soldiers tried to put out the blaze but could not keep it from reaching artillery shells, which began to explode.
The Russian-based website Ferghana.ru, which had reporters on the scene, said the military base, a train station, a hospital and more than 20 homes were destroyed. The Emergency Situations Ministry could not confirm the report.
Information is tightly controlled in Uzbekistan. State television and news agencies did not report the explosions for more than 12 hours after the fire broke out.
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