At least 20 dead in gas station explosion as Nagorno-Karabakh residents flee to Armenia

At least 20 people were killed and nearly 300 others were injured in an explosion at a crowded gas station in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region as thousands of ethnic Armenians rushed to flee into neighbouring Armenia, the separatist territory's authorities said Tuesday.

At least 20 people were killed and nearly 300 others were injured in an explosion at a crowded gas station in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region as thousands of ethnic Armenians rushed to flee into neighbouring Armenia, the separatist territory's authorities said Tuesday.

Some 19,000 people -- about 16 per cent of the region's population -- have fled across the border since Azerbaijan defeated separatists who have governed the breakaway region for about 30 years in a swift military operation last week, according to Armenian's Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan.

Residents of Nagorno-Karabakh scrambled to flee as soon as Azerbaijan lifted a 10-month blockade on the region's only road to Armenia. That blockade had caused severe shortages of food, medicine and fuel. While Azerbaijan has pledged to respect the rights of Armenians, many residents feared reprisals.

"I think we're going to see the vast majority of people in Karabakh leaving for Armenia," said Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Europe think tank. "They are being told to integrate into Azerbaijan, a country that they've never been part of, and most of them don't even speak the language and are being told to dismantle their local institutions. That's an offer that most people in Karabakh will not accept."

The explosion took place as people lined up to fill their cars at a gas station outside Stepanakert, the region's capital, late on Monday. The separatist government's health department said that 13 bodies have been found and seven people have died of injuries from the blast. An additional 290 people have been hospitalized and scores of them remain in grave condition.

The cause of the blast remains unclear, but Nagorno-Karabakh presidential aide David Babayan said initial information suggested that it resulted from negligence, adding that sabotage was unlikely.