Fifteen soldiers were killed and three more were critically injured in a major fire that broke out at a military barracks in Armenia, the Defense Ministry said on January 19. The ministry said the fire broke out at the barracks of an engineer-sapper company in a military unit in Azat, a village in Armenia's eastern Gegharkunik Province, some 110 kilometers east of the capital, Yerevan. Citing the "preliminary" findings of military investigators, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Defense Minister Suren Papikian blamed it on a serious violation of fire-safety rules. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Armenian Service, click here.
