<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">An overnight fire that broke out in the barracks of an Armenian military unit left 15 servicemen dead and three others in serious condition, the country's defence ministry said Thursday.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"According to preliminary information, 15 servicemen were killed as a result of a fire that broke out in the barracks of an engineer and sniper company of a military unit... and the condition of three servicemen is assessed as serious," the ministry said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the ministry, the fire broke out at around 01:30 am on Thursday (2130 GMT Wednesday) in the village of Azat in Armenia's eastern Gegharkunik region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It said the cause of the fire was not yet established.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last August, more than a dozen people were killed in an explosion and subsequent fire at a busy market in Armenia's capital Yerevan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Caucasus nation of around three million people is still recovering from a 2020 war with Azerbaijan, which ended in a heavy defeat and sparked a political crisis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite the end of the large-scale fighting, tensions persist between the ex-Soviet rivals over their borders. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>