Contradictory reports have been received about the explosion in the town of Abadan (former Büzmeýin, Russian: Бюзмейн) about 16 km outside Ashgabat, with officials reporting that the accident was caused by fireworks exploding, there are no casualties, and damage is minimal, yet independent sources claiming there are many killed and wounded and the blaze is out of control, fergananews.com reports.

A Russian-language news portal on Central Asia, news-asia.ru, had a report from its correspondent who covers Turkmenistan that according to unofficial estimates, about 100 people had already been killed in the explosion at the arms depot in Abadan.

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