NUR-SULTAN — Kazakhstan's defense minister resigned on
Tuesday after several explosions at an arms depot in the south of the Central
Asian country last week killed 15 servicemen, the president's office said.
اضافة اعلان
The
blasts occurred at a defense ministry ammunitions depot
in the southern Jambyl region on Thursday, leaving dozens injured and forcing
the evacuation of more than 1,000 people from nearby villages.
All the victims were soldiers and firefighters.
"President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, having considered a
report by defense minister Nurlan Yermekbayev with a request for resignation,
accepted it," presidential spokesman Berik Uali said on Facebook.
In another post later on Tuesday, Uali said the president
had appointed Murat Bektanov as the country's new defense minister.
After the blasts, Tokayev had acknowledged that the
ex-Soviet country had "systemic problems" with its ammunitions
storage and called for authorities to investigate the incident.
Regular incidents at Kazakhstan's Soviet-era military depots
have proven a headache for the government.
Another depot near the southern town of Arys has seen three
lethal explosions in the last decade.
Sunday was a day of national mourning for the military
personnel and rescuers who died at the scene of the disaster.
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