Kazakhstan's defence minister resigned on Tuesday after several explosions at an arms depot in the south of the Central Asian country last week killed 15 servicemen, the president's office said.

The blasts occurred at a defence ministry ammunitions depot in the southern Jambyl region on Thursday, leaving dozens injured and forcing the evacuation of more than 1,000 people from nearby villages.

All the victims were soldiers and firefighters.

"President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, having considered a report by defence minister Nurlan Yermekbayev with a request for resignation, accepted it," presidential spokesman Berik Uali said on Facebook.

In another post later on Tuesday, Uali said the president had appointed Murat Bektanov as the country's new defence minister.

After the blasts, Tokayev had acknowledged that the ex-Soviet country had "systemic problems" with its ammunitions storage and called for authorities to investigate the incident.

Regular incidents at Kazakhstan's Soviet-era military depots have proven a headache for the government.

Another depot near the southern town of Arys has seen three lethal explosions in the last decade.

Sunday was a day of national mourning for the military personnel and rescuers who died at the scene of the disaster.

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12 dead after blasts at Kazakhstan arms depot
Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan (AFP) Aug 27, 2021
The death toll following explosions at an arms depot in southern Kazakhstan rose to 12 on Friday, the Central Asian country's emergencies ministry said. A search had uncovered the bodies of a further three staff who were helping to put out the fire that began on Thursday evening, spokesman Talgat Uali said. Around 50 staff from the emergencies ministry had suffered injuries during the operation, he said. "The (operation) to put the fire out continues," Uali told AFP. The blasts occurred ... read more