Turkish major arrested over armory blast
ESKİŞEHİR - Doğan News Agency
A tow truck pulls away a military vehicle wrecked in the Sept 5 blast in Afyonkarahisar. AA photo
A military court arrested Maj. Ali Duran today in the wake of a Sept. 5 explosion at a military depot in the western province of Afyonkarahisar that killed 25 Turkish soldiers.A military prosecutor asked the court to arrest Duran along with Col. Veysel Özbay, commander of the 4th munitions unit in Afyonkarahisar, and Lt. Tarık Aydın, charging the three with "causing death due to negligence." The court, however, decided to release Özbay and Aydın pending trial while arresting Duran.
The court listened to the testimonies of the three officers separately, who said 248 tons of hand grenades and 360 tons of 175-milimeter shells were stacked in two armories. The officers said they had been trying to fit five armories' worth of ammunition into two armories.
Duran was sent to Eskişehir military prison following his arrest.
