KEY POINTS:
A fire at a military base in Uzbekistan spread to an ammunitions depot last night, setting off a series of powerful explosions.
The Uzbek Defence Ministry said there were casualties but did not say whether anyone died, according to RIA-Novosti.
The Ferghana.ru website said there were fatalities. Calls to Uzbek authorities went unanswered.
The ministry said a helicopter unit in central Uzbekistan caught fire. Soldiers tried to put out the blaze, but could not prevent it reaching artillery shells, which began to explode. The website cited local residents as saying they heard explosions around three hours after the fire started.
The explosions shattered windows in Bukhara, 12km away. The website said a train station and a hospital were destroyed but an official from the Emergency Situations Ministry denied that, RIA-Novosti said.
