At least 15 Killed in Fire at Armenia Military Barracks

Armenia's Defense Ministry said 15 soldiers were killed in a fire at a military base early Thursday.

The fire swept through a barracks in the village of Azat, in Gegharkunik province, eastern Armenia. 

The ministry reported that three soldiers were injured and remained in serious condition. It didn't say what caused the fire.

The Gegharkunik region borders Azerbaijan, which has been locked in a decades-old conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war there in 1994.

In six weeks of fierce fighting that began in September 2020, the Azerbaijani army defeated Armenian forces and pushed deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept a peace deal brokered by Russia in November of that year. 

Another escalation in fighting last September killed 155 soldiers on both sides.