Mystery explosions rock Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan on Friday insisted mystery explosions outside Ashgabat were caused by fireworks but unofficial sources said that a military arms depot had blown up in a potentially massive accident. The explosions took place Thursday afternoon at a military arms depot in the city of Abadan, just 20 kilometres (15 miles) outside Ashgabat, three concurring sources who asked not to be named told an AFP correspondent in Turkmenistan. The AFP correspondent saw a vast plume of smoke billowing from the depot while a Turkmen official said that the city was partially evacuated to protect the population. Some of the explosions were heard in Ashgabat. There were prolonged power cuts in the capital, which gets its electricity from a gas-powered plant in Abadan. With speculation growing over the cause and potential scale of the incident, the foreign ministry early Friday issued a hugely unusual statement to say the accident was caused by fireworks explosions. "The fireworks kept in a special store outside of Abadan exploded as a result of the hot weather," it said. "There are no victims or major destruction. The population is being given all necessary help." However in a possible sign of the magnitude of the accident, it said that the explosions had been discussed at a joint cabinet and national security council meeting chaired by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. The opposition rights website Khronika Turkmenistana, which is blocked inside Turkmenistan, also said that the explosions took place at a military arms depot and said witnesses spoke of deaths and major destruction. It said the explosions had sparked panic and also mass looting in Abadan. The gas rich Central Asian nation is the most reclusive state to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union and is notorious for its low transparency. Berdymukhamedov is seeking to very cautiously ease the country out of the extreme isolation of his eccentric predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov who died in 2006, although critics say stabs at reform have been little more than window-dressing. He has cut back on some of the excesses of Niyazov, known as the Turkmenbashi, and last year removed a golden statue of his predecessor in Ashgabat which rotated to face the sun.