Two dozen reported injured by blast at rebel Georgian arms depot

The separatist province’s interior minister Aslan Kobakhia was quoted by Interfax as saying that no one had died in the blast, but that emergency workers were still trying to get to the epicentre.

The blast reportedly tore through a munitions store belonging to the separatist authorities on the shore of the Black Sea. Abkhazia is internationally recognised as part of the tiny ex-Soviet nation of Georgia, but has claimed independence since a conflict in the wake of the collapse of the USSR.

Russia recognised the subtropical region — along with another province South Ossetia — as separate countries after a brief 2008 war with Georgia. Moscow has thousands of troops stationed in the regions in what Georgia calls a military “occupation”, and supports the two provinces financially.